Ranji Trophy: Tanush Kotian overcomes IPL snub to emerge as Mumbai’s Man Friday

Mumbai’s lower order once again came to the team’s rescue as their ability to bat in crunch situations enabled the hosts to post a respectable total of 395 in their Ranji Trophy match against Andhra on Saturday.

Tanush Kotian, batting at number 8, and number 9 Mohit Avasthi scored 54 and 53 runs respectively as Mumbai added 114 runs to their overnight tally at the MCA-BKC ground.

Kotian, who ground it out in the middle on a warm afternoon, is fast earning the reputation of being Mumbai’s Man Friday. This was his second successive half-century, signalling a remarkable turn of fortunes for a player who, a little more than a year ago, was reported by the match referee for his bowling.

It was on the eve of the IPL auction in December 2022 that Kotian, hoping to attract a bid, had to endure a heartbreak. “I got to know on the day of the auction that my action had been questioned. In fact, I had done reasonably well and was quite optimistic about getting a bid in the auction,” he said. “I did feel for a while that the incident has pulled me back a step or two. It happens. Sometimes you go through a rough patch but if you keep working hard and keep performing, you will be rewarded at some point.”

Despite the match referee’s adverse views over his action, Kotian never thought there was any fault in his bowling. “It was a minor incident that became such a huge issue. I have interacted with many coaches and seniors and all of them have told me there’s absolutely nothing wrong with my action,” he added.

It was during the 2022-23 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy game against Uttarakhand at Rajkot that the match referee summoned him. He never got to see the clip where his action seemed faulty and was never asked to stop bowling. Later, he was asked to go to Chennai to get his action checked but a technical error meant the test did not take place.

Fast forward to 2024 and the talented all-rounder is again ready to put in the hard yards in domestic cricket.

His innings, ably supported by Avathi, ensured the 41-time champions ended Day 2 in a comfortable position. Andhra were 98 for 3 at stumps, with left-arm spinner Shams Mulani taking two wickets and left-arm seamer Royston Dias scalping one.

Andhra managed to get a decent start as opener C Gnaneshwar and Prasanth Kumar added 57 runs for the opening stand. Dias managed to get the breakthrough after Gnaneshwar was brilliantly caught in slips by Mulani.

Mulani then took the wickets of Shaikh Rasheed and Hanuma Vihari in quick succession to leave the visitors reeling.

Brief Scores: Mumbai 395 all out (Jay Bista 39, Bhupen Lalwani 61, Suved Parkar 41, Shreyas Iyer 48, Shams Mulani 38, Tanush Kotian 54, Mohit Avasthi 53, Nithish Reddy 5 for 64) vs Andhra 98 for 3 (P Kumar 59 not out, Shams Mulani 2 for 35).

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