All-round ability: Kotian already has 481 runs and 22 wickets with one more game left in the season.
| Photo Credit: EMMANUAL YOGINI

Despite its top-order not firing, Mumbai has reaped the benefits of its lower-order batters’ valuable contributions.

One person who has done that effectively this year has been Tanush Kotian. The 25-year-old has bailed out the 41-time champion a few times this season, including in the semifinals against Tamil Nadu with an unbeaten 89.

He walked in at 211 for eight and put the game beyond TN with his chance-less knock. It shouldn’t come as a surprise, though, as the all-rounder said he has worked on his skills with a number in mind, taking off from where he left off last season.

“I had a target like scoring 500 runs and 30 odd wickets because last year I showed that I could bat down the order and contribute 350 or 380 runs (sic 303 runs),” said Kotian, who now has 481 runs and 22 wickets with one more game left in the season.

He also felt that having someone like Shardul Thakur at number eight ensured the team was confident of posting decent totals even if it lost the top order cheaply.

“We have a deep batting order. Even when our team was 100 for 5, we reached 400 or 450 because the lower order had made runs. We have the confidence that we can bat session by session and put up as many runs as possible,” Kotian added.