Ranji Trophy: Shams up for this all-rounder!

Give him a ball and he will bowl tirelessly picking up wickets by the bagful Pad him up and send him to bat at any position and he will put a price on his wicket These are the makings of Shams Mulani an allrounder par excellence for Mumbai since he made his whiteball debut in 201718 and redball appearance the following season He could easily fit into any domestic side either as a batter or purely as a leftarm spinnerOn Sunday at the MCABKC ground against Himachal Pradesh the 28yearold made the difference between Mumbai being bowled for under 400 and posting a healthy total close to 450 He posted his second fifty of the season mdash 69 122 balls 9x4 mdash in nearly three hours of sound batsmanshipWalking in at 3056 after overnight batsman Akash Anand fell for 34 joining centurion Siddhesh Lad 127 260b 18x4 1x6 the lefthander was the last to fall after Mumbai reached 446 He added 75 for the ninth wicket with Tushar Deshpande 38Himanshu shines with 326At stumps on Day Two the visitors were 947 trailing Mumbai by 352 runs Mulani breaking the fourthwicket partnership of 41 between Pukhraj Mann and Ekant Sen by having the latter leg before wicket He applied pressure on the HP middleorder that helped the lanky offspinner Himanshu Singh 326 to pick up three wicketsMumbairsquos Shams Mulani during his composed 69 vs HP at the MCABKC ground on Sunday PicAtul KambleSuch has been Mulanirsquos contribution over the years His tally of 2467 runs in 55 firstclass matches at an average 3333 with 21 fifties and a lone century adds to his primary skill leftarm spin which has fetched him 253 wickets till date including 18 fivewicket bags and seven 10wicket match hauls making him a vital cog in Mumbairsquos lineupFormer India batsman and Mumbai Ranji Trophywinning coach Pravin Amre is not surprised at Mulanirsquos growth ldquoHe learnt his early lessons of bowling from the legend Padmakar Shivalkar sir at Sivaji Park So bowling comes naturally to himrdquo Amre told midday Amre recalled Mulanirsquos ability to perform under pressure even when he was in his 14s and 15s ldquoThat showed his temperament and his ability to perform under pressurerdquo added Amre who played a role in grooming Mulani at the Sivaji Park Gymkhana AcademyVinayak Samant former Mumbai wicketkeeper and coach in Mulanirsquos debut firstclass season told midday on Sunday ldquoShams is a champion player displaying the lsquokhadoosrsquo attitude proudly and delivering in crunch situations When we won the Vijay Hazare Trophy in 201819 he turned in key performances Against Himachal Pradesh he was promoted ahead of Aditya Tare and returned undefeated with 40odd runs along with Suryakumar Yadav who made an unbeaten century as we won chasing a 270run target Handling pressure has been his cup of tea and that is why he is successful Unfortunately he has not yet been selected even for India lsquoArsquo so farrdquoPravin Amre Vinayak Samant and Siddhesh LadHailing from a middleclass family and learning the tricks of the trade at the famed Shivaji Park Mulani has been a ldquostreetsmart cricketer a thinking cricketerrdquo as his teammate Siddhesh Lad described him Lad said on Sunday ldquoTo me he is the crisis man of Mumbai Whenever the team needed him he has delivered be it in batting or bowling He is also a great fielder There is great competition right now in the India setup But he has done everything to deserve a place in the Indian team But it is up to the selectorsldquoHe is one of the most streetsmart cricketers we have in Mumbai cricket It comes from the experience of playing club cricket He has played a lot of club cricket the under19s U23s He is very smart and intelligent He thinks a lot about his game and knows exactly what to do and what not to dordquoCrucial role in title winMulani has been a solid batsman at No 7 or thereabouts and bats efficiently like a toporder batsman Two seasons ago Mulani was a key player with the bat in Mumbairsquos 42nd Ranji Trophywinning campaign often rescuing his side in the company of Tanush Kotian Shardul Thakur and Tushar Deshpande It was a season when Mumbairsquos toporder consistently failed and the lower half often underlining the famous Mumbai lsquokhadoosrsquo attitude that took them the entire distanceAkash Choudhary hammers record eight consecutive sixes for fastest 50Meghalayarsquos Akash Kumar Choudhary on Sunday became the first player to hit eight sixes in a row in firstclass cricket while also recording the fastest halfcentury in the format off only 11 deliveries during a Ranji Trophy Plate Group match against Arunachal Pradesh here on Sunday Batting at No 8 25yearold Choudhary achieved the stunning feat on the second day of the match at the CK Pithawala GroundHe remained not out on 50 off 14 balls helping Meghalaya declared their first innings at a mammoth 6286 Choudhary broke the previous record of fastest fifty in firstclass cricket which was set by Leicestershirersquos Wayne White in 12 deliveries against Essex in 2012 He also became only the third player ever to hit six sixes in a row in firstclass cricket after the legendary Sir Garfield Sobers of the West Indies and Indiarsquos Ravi Shastri746Leftarm spinner Mulanirsquos bowling figures in the second innings of the opening match against JampK mdash the best by a Mumbai bowler this season18No of wickets claimed by Shams Mulani in four matches in the ongoing Ranji season along with 272 runs in five innings 5440