Ranji Trophy: Shams Mulani and Tanush Kotian star as Mumbai spin it to win it vs Goa

Two young Mumbai spinnersmdashShams Mulani 24 and Tanush Kotian 23mdashturned things around as the former champions beat Goa by 119 runs in an Elite Group D Ranji Trophy match in Ahmedabad on SundayLeftarm 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 Offspinner Kotian 23 first put Goa on backfoot with his fighting 98 8x4 1x6 and then supported Mulani well taking three for 29The 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 gameMumbai resumed the fourth and final day on Sunday on an overnight 3227 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 newball challenge but fell just two runs short of what would have been a fine maiden firstclass century Kotianrsquos timely knockmdashhis second halfcentury in two matchesmdashand his 60run ninthwicket stand with pacer Mohit Avasthi 26 not out ended when he edged one to Desai off leftarm spinner Amulya Pandrekar 153Then began Mumbairsquos hunt for the outright win as skipper Prithvi Shaw declared the second innings at 3959 giving Goa a target of 232lsquoHuge reliefrsquoldquoOur first plan was to take the game away from them Goa totally We planned to bowl around 6065 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 Saurashtrardquo Mulani told midday moments after the thrilling winMulani who has 50 wickets under his belt from 12 firstclass games has claimed 22 scalps from his last two Ranji matches ldquoTodayrsquos Sunday fifer is more important because when you are looking to pick 20 wickets in a game and 10 wickets in halfaday itrsquos very important for us bowlers to step up So this performance was much sweeterrdquo he saidlsquoFantastic dayrsquoKotian a former India U19 bowler was playing only his fourth firstclass game ldquoTill tea on Saturday we were on the backfoot and thinking what we should do So this is a fantastic dayrdquo said Kotian who was a tad disappointed at missing his century ldquoMissing out on a century is a bit disappointing but after such a win Irsquom happy that we are on top in the league and have a good chance of qualifying for the knockoutsrdquo he addedGoa captain Snehal Kauthankar admitted that his team lost the plot on the final day ldquoWe dominated the game for the first three days Then after taking the second new ball suddenly the game changed as it ball wasnrsquot turning that much Our bowlers were a bit tired toordquo he saidBrief scoresMumbai 163 amp 3959 decl T Kotain 98 A Rahane 56 S Mulani 50 D Misal 3102 beat Goa 327 amp 112 A Pandrekar 23 A Yadav 19 S Mulani 560 T Kotain 329 by 119 runs