Ranji Trophy final: Lower-order resilience Mumbai's abiding story

Knocking off the top- and middle-order has still left rival bowlers in dismay, so consistently have the tail-enders stood up with the bat.

As Vidarbha gear up to play Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy final at the Wankhede Stadium from Sunday, their think-tank will do well to pay heed to what Tamil Nadu coach, Sulakshan Kulkarni, said after the semi-final defeat earlier in the week about the challenge of playing the 41-time champions this season.

Players of Mumbai look at the big screen during a DRS appeal on the first day of a Ranji Trophy semi-final cricket match between Tamil Nadu and Mumbai (PTI)

"I said this in the (TN) dressing room that their batting starts after (No) 6,” Kulkarni said. The former Mumbai coach's statement came after the home team’s Nos 9, 10 and 11 had batted Tamil Nadu out of the game. TN bowlers, having reduced Mumbai to 106/7, then watched haplessly as the last three wickets added 272 runs. All-rounder Shardul Thakur at No.9 smashed a counter-attacking century (109) and No.10 Tanush Kotian played brilliantly to score an unbeaten 89.

The last-wicket pair of Kotian and Tushar Deshpande raised 88 runs to frustrate Tamil Nadu. Shams Mulani and Kotian have been performing the rearguard action for Mumbai for a couple of years now. This year, others have chipped in with valuable contributions down the order. Among Mulani, Kotian, Thakur, Dhawal Kulkarni, Deshpande and Mohit Avasthi, Mumbai’s lower order has scored a combined total of 1,362 runs in their nine games leading up to the final.

To get an idea of the role played by Mumbai's lower-order, one just needs to check the performances of their Nos 9, 10 and 11 in the two knock-out matches. Before the Tamil Nadu game, in the second innings of their quarter-final, they batted Baroda out of the game. For the first time in first-class cricket in India, both the No.10 (Kotian - 120*) and No.11 (Deshpande - 123) got hundreds. The duo added a whopping 232 runs for the last wicket.

In the season’s first match against Bihar the lower order added 114 runs to lift Mumbai from a precarious 137/5 to 251. In their first home match, at the MCA Academy ground against Andhra, the tail lifted Mumbai from 224/6 to 394. Mulani made 38, Kotian 54, Avasthi 53 and Kulkarni 24*. In fact, the last wicket pair of Avasthi and Kulkarni frustrated the Andhra bowling with a 98-run association.

It was the same story in the tough away game against Bengal. Reduced to 231/6, they went on to score 412 -- the final four wickets adding 181 runs. Even in their only defeat of the season, to Uttar Pradesh, Mumbai’s tail wagged in the second innings. From 86/6, the lower-order added 234 runs to help post a total of 320. It's the only game Mumbai played at the Wankhede Stadium before the final.

Had Deshpande hung around for some more time against Tamil Nadu, Kotian would well have got his second successive hundred at No.10. He needs just 19 more to complete 500 runs for the season. He has set his sights on getting to that mark in the final.

“I had (my) target set, 500 runs and 30-odd wickets. I had made 350-380 runs down the order last year. I have one more game, so I will try to get one more hundred,” Kotian said after the semi-final. “I am taking the game as deep as I can and making a good contribution. We have a deep batting order with Shardul at No.9,” he said.

“We have made runs down the order, most of the time our team was 100/5 but we have the confidence of reaching 400-450. Mohit (Avasthi) also can bat, Tushar can too. We've the confidence of playing session-by-session." Vidarbha bowlers sure have their task cut out.