Ranji Trophy: Shams Mulani opens up on Mumbai's victory over Jammu and Kashmir

Finally in their third meeting Mumbai succeeded in beating Jammu amp Kashmir JampK by 35 runs in their Elite Group lsquoDrsquo Ranji Trophy seasonopening game in Srinagar on Saturday The architect of Mumbairsquos triumph leftarm spinner Shams Mulani 28 who claimed 746 on the final day reckons the team had the belief that they would return home with a winJampK restarted their chase of 243 on Day Four on an overnight score of 211 but were bowled out for 207lsquoWicket was a bit slowrsquoldquoEveryone in our team expected us to get them JampK all out It was our belief that we will do it And in such a situation where the fast bowlers had a lot of help too our two pacers skipper Shardul Thakur and Tushar Deshpande are very good Irfan Umair has just made his debut but the other two are experienced pros So we had the belief that we would do it The blacksoil wicket was normal it was a bit slow I was getting a slight bite and that helped Eventually I got my first wicket and then it wickets didnrsquot stoprdquo Mulani told Sunday midday over the phone from Srinagar on SaturdayLast season the Ajinkya Rahaneled Mumbai team lost to JampK by five wickets at MCArsquos BKC ground Previously in their first meeting in 201415 Suryakumar Yadavrsquos team suffered a fourwicket loss to the Parvez Rasoolled side at Wankhede StadiumWhen asked whether it is a big relief now as Mumbai have finally overcome JampK Mulani who also scored a fighting 91 and 41 in the game said ldquoNo itrsquos not a relief Shardul bhai said that we are doing this We knew that JampK beat us in Mumbai in our last two games but we are taking this one game at a time And we have defeated a lot of similar oppositions Obviously they played very good cricket in all three matches This time too it was a good close match They bowled and batted very well But we had the belief right from this morning that we will do it and we didrdquoDogra dismissed earlyOpposition captain Paras Dogra scored 144 in the first essay and looked like a big obstacle in the second innings as well while playing on 29 before Mulani dismissed him ldquoThe turning point was Paras Dograrsquos wicket in the second innings because he was playing well He batted well in the first innings too He was the backbone of the JampK batting lineup and the team was rallying around him The plan for Dogra was that if the ball turns from the middle given the way he plays there is a chance of getting him out bowled or LBW So I was trying to create an angle to beat himrdquo explained Mulani who was Mumbairsquos highest wickettaker with 44 scalps last season but was still left out of the Rest of India squad for the recent Irani Cup match against VidarbhaMulani wants his team to focus on the next game against Chhattisgarh starting on October 25 in Mumbai ldquoConsistency is key One match is not enough This match went well but this is history We have to focus on the next match and try to win Now we have got a good start Hopefully we can continue thisrdquo Mulani signed offBrief scoresMumbai 386 amp 181 beat JampK 325 amp 207 Q Iqbal 56 A Nabi 37 S Mulani 746 by 35 runsThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever