Winning the Ranji Trophy was the goal, individual award is like a bonus: Mumbai’s Tanush Kotian

Nightmares are history, it’s time to enjoy sweet dreams for Tanush Kotian, the Mumbai allrounder.

More than his heroics with the bat lower down the order that came in handy during Mumbai’s march into the 2021-22 final and the critical knock of 93 against Maharashtra during the 2022-23 league match that brought Mumbai to the brink of qualification, Kotian, the off-spinning allrounder, was often reminded of the solitary run he couldn’t score in the Maharashtra Derby.

Mumbai required at least the first-innings lead in the last league game to progress to the knockouts. When Kotian came in to bat at No. 8, Mumbai was 143 runs behind Maharashtra’s 381. Despite batting with a fractured finger, Kotian scored 93 crucial runs and levelled the scores, but was dismissed, thus ending Mumbai’s hopes of regaining the Ranji Trophy title since 2015-16.

The trauma was such that it gave him nightmares. “Many times did I wake up and the flashback of missing out on that one run continued to play in my head. It was extremely difficult to get over it. I would keep going back to it all the time,” Kotian told Sportstar.

The nightmare will no longer haunt Kotian. After all, thanks to a dream run in the Ranji Trophy, 502 runs at 41.83 and 29 wickets at 16.96, not only did Kotian help Mumbai lift the Ranji Trophy for the 42nd time but was also adjudged the Player of the Tournament.

“Winning the Ranji Trophy was a childhood dream, with the legacy and the importance it has to everyone involved in Mumbai cricket. The last two years, it was a near-miss, so extremely delighted to have played a role in the winning run. I can safely say that the hard work has borne fruits and the monkey is off my back now,” Kotian said.

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“Player of the Tournament award is like a big cherry on top. To earn the trophy was the goal, the individual award is like a bonus. I am just glad that the hard work has paid off,” he added.

Ever since he returned to Mumbai’s Ranji Trophy side in 2021-22 after featuring in two games in the 2018-19 edition, it has been a case of near-misses for Tanush Kotian. But the Ranji Trophy title has been a major boost for the lanky 25-year-old. After being consistent in the league stage, Kotian dazzled in the knockouts with the bat and the ball.

He wasted no time in responding when asked about the most memorable moments of the season.

“The hundred (against Baroda in the quarterfinal) is memorable, so is the four-wicket in the final,” he said. “Giving a breakthrough on the last day of the final when we had started getting frustrated was equally big (he broke the 130-run partnership by dismissing Vidarbha centurion Akshay Wadkar). But nothing can match the winning moment,” he concluded.