da 888casino： The allrounder entered at 179 for 5, with Ruturaj Gaikwad seemingly running out of partners, and did what he does best

da realbet： Ashish Pant05-Sep-2025Around an hour and a half after lunch on the opening day of West Zone’s Duleep Trophy semi-final against Central Zone, Tanush Kotian jumped down the track and smashed offspinner Saransh Jain for two straight fours. It is unlikely these two boundaries will be spoken about too much in the broader context of this match, but when Kotian hit them, they seemed to shift the momentum of the innings.West Zone were 179 for 5 in the 44th over. Shreyas Iyer and Shams Mulani had fallen in the space of eight overs, and while Ruturaj Gaikwad had reached his century, he seemed to be running out of support. Enter Kotian, Mumbai’s crisis man. He began steadily, getting right behind the line against the quicks, moving his feet swiftly against the spinners, the ball pinging off the centre of his bat. But he couldn’t find the gaps at the start. That changed with his charge against Jain. It changed things not just at his end but at Gaikwad’s too.Related

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West Zone went into the tea break on a high, and kept their foot on the pedal when play resumed. They crashed 73 runs in the first 11 overs after tea, and while Gaikwad did most of the scoring, Kotian ensured he did not clog up the strike.”I’ve played for Mumbai for the last three to four years, so I have an idea of how to bat down the order and how to absorb the pressure,” Kotian said of his innings. “I know how to take chances, when to take chances, and where to rotate the singles and build the game. That’s what I’ve implemented in this match.”Ruturaj was a set batsman in front of me. I just wanted to build a partnership with him, taking it ten runs at a time. That’s what I was planning. I was trying to play as many balls as I could and just wanted to rotate.”Kotian was happy to be the bystander in a 148-run stand with Gaikwad, which came off 184 balls. It was the first time the two had batted together in a first-class game, but Kotian said he “developed a good bond” with Gaikwad and learned a lot along the way.”We have played on the same team before but because he is an opener, we haven’t had a chance to bat together,” Kotian said. “It was quite fun to bat with him, the way he was rotating the singles, and he was also guiding me on how to play, what to do on this wicket, where to take a single.”I learnt a lot from him in this game and the way he was batting, the shots he was playing, it was fun to watch. He was giving me a lot of confidence with the shots he was playing. I think we were batting at a run rate of close to 4 or 4.5 yesterday; that was a plus point.Kotian has been part of the Test squad, but he isn’t worrying about when he’ll get to wear the India cap•PTI “Strike rotation was a key part of our partnership. We were hitting the ball straight to the fielder and running. It was about understanding, just the eye contact and we were off. I think we developed a good bond and that contribution benefited us.”Since his comeback to the Mumbai team in 2022, Kotian has often rescued Mumbai from tricky situations. Now, he was at it for West Zone, his 76 vital to their reaching 438 in the first innings. Kotian says he thrives on the challenge of batting with the tail, and, as a bowler himself, understands the importance of extra runs down the order.”It’s all about how I can utilise myself, because I have the capability to bat well,” Kotian said. “Whenever I go [to bat], I don’t think about how many wickets have fallen, or that the team is in trouble. I have confidence. I just focus on my game, analyse it properly. ‘How can I play my shots, and how can I get the team out of that pressure situation?’ That’s my game plan.”I try and play time and take it one hour at a time. My goal is to reach the next drinks break and take it from there. If I can take it one small session at a time, the opposition automatically gets bogged down and after that it gets easy to score.”Kotian has had a busy couple of seasons. Apart from being a regular in the Mumbai line-up, he has also been part of India A squads in Australia and England. When R Ashwin retired midway through the Border-Gavaskar series in 2024-25, Kotian was the offspinner India called up as his replacement. The India cap seems like the next step, but Kotian says he doesn’t want to get too far ahead of himself.”I have not changed anything in these last six months,” he said. “What I have always done, I am continuing the same. I am not thinking too far ahead. I just like to stay in the present and plan each session accordingly.”Whatever happens in the future is in the selectors’ hand, but I try to give my 100%, whether it is batting or bowling.”Kotian is one of the few genuine allrounders in the Indian first-class setup. Before this semi-final, he averaged 25.93 with the ball and 43.50 with the bat after 38 matches, numbers that would make specialists in either discipline proud. With Ashwin’s retirement, a space has opened up in the Indian Test side, and with the numbers Kotian has accumulated, that cap may not be too far away.