The selectors do their job, I do mine says Tanush Kotian after career-best show

The Mumbai off-spinner is among claimants for India off-spin berth post R Ashwin’s retirement.

Mumbai: For over a decade the India off-spinner’s berth was a no-admittance zone. R Ashwin was that good. It’s been close to two years since India’s second-highest Test wicket-taker has retired. As is often the case, filling into such giant boots takes time.

Tanush Kotian claimed a 10-wicket haul against Haryana. (PTI)

Washington Sundar, who would out-bowl Ashwin towards the back-end of the spin legend’s career, has been the strongest claimant. But, not entirely on the heft of his bowling. In his 18 Tests, the Tamil Nadu off-spinner has proved to be a solid batting resource in the lower-middle order, averaging 44. With the ball, the off-spinner has had a few standout spells — Test debut in Brisbane, a coming-of-age 11-wicket Test in Pune against New Zealand, use of drift for his four wickets against England at Lord’s last year spring to mind.

But Washington is yet to become a runaway match-winning spinner at home that Ashwin was. And until they find one, Indian Test cricket won’t have it easy to reclaim home ascendancy.

It could be that India’s next big spinner at home could be a left-arm bowler. Manav Suthar has shown early potential. But with the vacuum left behind by Ashwin’s exit, there are other off-spin claimants.

Mumbai’s Tanush Kotian made a strong case with his career-best 10-wicket haul on Thursday — 11/151 against Haryana. With Mumbai requiring eight second-innings wickets for an outright win, Kotian picked up six wickets on the day returning figures of 8/81 in the second innings.

“I’ve been waiting for this achievement for a long time,” he said about his first 10-wicket haul. “I’ve always aimed to bowl as many overs as possible whenever I get the chance, and I think this is the first time I’ve bowled this much (66.2 overs). The ball was coming out of my hand well, and I was able to hold down one end while picking up wickets. I’m really happy about that.”

Kotian was a constant threat on the final day. He was the one to dislodge Haryana mainstay Nishant Sindhu (44). When the old ball appeared to have lost bite and an eighth-wicket partnership threatened to tire out the bowlers, it was Kotian who ripped a fuller one from around-the-wicket to sneak between the bat-pad of Sindhu. Using his six-foot frame to good effect by extracting bounce has been his calling card. More subtle use of angles is what he is fast learning, having worked with elite coaches for India, India A and at Centre of Excellence camps.

“The last four years have been about progress,” he said. “I have been on many tours and spent time with the Indian team, where I received guidance from coaches like Sunil Joshi and Morne Morkel. Currently, I’m training with Jatin (Paranjpe) Sir. I’m now applying all that I’ve learned. I’ve added a few variations. By utilizing different angles, I’ve been able to prevent batters from settling in, which helps in creating pressure.”

Over the last four days at Mumbai’s home ground in BKC, the red-soil pitch assisted spinners. Even then, the Mumbai off-spinner’s strong Ranji Trophy showing would sit favourably with the selectors who would be on a lookout to pack the squad with a threatening quartet of spinners for next year’s Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) at home. Madhya Pradesh off-spinner Saranash Jain’s Test debut recently against Sri Lanka wasn’t the most impressive.

"The BGT selection is not in my hands,” Kotian said. “I am not thinking that they (selectors) picked Saransh ahead of me. He’s doing well, and I’m doing well too. My goal is simply to keep performing consistently with the bat and ball. The selectors will do their job. I will do mine.”

Mumbai beat Haryana by 10-wickets

After Kotian’s 8/81, Angkrish Raghuvanshi (67*) and Divyaansh Saxena (30*) helped Mumbai chase down 97 runs inside 10.4 overs itself to beat Haryana by 10-wickets. This was their third successive win with a bonus point that sees them topping the Group D Elite table.