Two young Mumbai spinners—Shams Mulani, 24, and Tanush Kotian, 23—turned things around as the former champions beat Goa by 119 runs in an Elite Group D Ranji Trophy match in Ahmedabad on Sunday.
Left-arm spinner Mulani, 24, who returned with a match haul of 11 wickets, played a key role on the final day, taking five for 60 to bundle out Goa for 112 in just 48 overs. Off-spinner Kotian, 23, first put Goa on backfoot with his fighting 98 (8×4, 1×6) and then supported Mulani well, taking three for 29.
The thumping win saw Mumbai take top spot in the group with nine points from two games. However, with only one team from the group qualifying for the knockouts, the next game against Odisha, beginning on Thursday, will be crucial. Defending champions Saurashtra are in second spot with eight points and will face Goa in the last league game.
Mumbai resumed the fourth and final day on Sunday on an overnight 322-7 with Kotian and Mulani playing on 57 and 49 respectively, with an overall lead of 158. Mulani fell early, after adding just one run to his overnight score of. While attempting to hit pacer Lakshy Garg, he only managed to find Amogh Desai at gully. Kotian, however, was determined to keep going. And he succeeded too, overcoming the first session as well as the new-ball challenge, but fell just two runs short of what would have been a fine maiden first-class century. Kotian’s timely knock—his second half-century in two matches—and his 60-run ninth-wicket stand with pacer Mohit Avasthi (26 not out) ended when he edged one to Desai off left-arm spinner Amulya Pandrekar (1-53).
Then began Mumbai’s hunt for the outright win, as skipper Prithvi Shaw declared the second innings at 395-9, giving Goa a target of 232.
‘Huge relief’
“Our first plan was to take the game away from them [Goa] totally. We planned to bowl around 60-65 overs on this track on the last day. This win is a huge relief because we lost the chance for an outright win in the last game [v Saurashtra],” Mulani told mid-day, moments after the thrilling win.
Mulani, who has 50 wickets under his belt from 12 first-class games, has claimed 22 scalps from his last two Ranji matches. “Today’s [Sunday] fifer is more important because when you are looking to pick 20 wickets in a game and 10 wickets in half-a-day, it’s very important for us bowlers to step up. So, this performance was much sweeter,” he said.
‘Fantastic day’
Kotian, a former India U-19 bowler, was playing only his fourth first-class game. “Till tea on Saturday, we were on the backfoot and thinking what we should do. So, this is a fantastic day,” said Kotian, who was a tad disappointed at missing his century. “Missing out on a century is a bit disappointing, but after such a win, I’m happy that we are on top in the league and have a good chance of qualifying for the knockouts,” he added.
Goa captain Snehal Kauthankar admitted that his team lost the plot on the final day. “We dominated the game for the first three days. Then, after taking the second new ball, suddenly the game changed as it [ball] wasn’t turning that much. Our bowlers were a bit tired too,” he said.
Brief scores
Mumbai 163 & 395-9 decl (T Kotain 98, A Rahane 56, S Mulani 50; D Misal 3-102) beat Goa 327 & 112 (A Pandrekar 23*, A Yadav 19; S Mulani 5-60, T Kotain 3-29) by 119 runs
