Tanush Kotian raises his all-round game for Mumbai

To a boy, as the saying goes, a father is often his first hero. It was no different for Tanush Kotian, the lanky allrounder from Mumbai.

Kotian's father, Karunakar, was a regular in the city's tennis-ball circuit and would often take his son along to the tournaments.

"Growing up, I watched only my dad," Kotian, 25, tells ESPNcricinfo when asked about his heroes. "He was a fast bowler and a middle-order batsman, and was called the king of tennis-ball cricket. The name he made for himself inspired me to take up the sport.

"And those five-over matches would be so exciting that I was pulled into it. Soon, I also started playing tennis-ball cricket."

Kotian's journey in leather-ball cricket, though, began when he was picked for Giles Shield, and then Harris Shield. After doing well there, he progressed through various age-group tournaments and made his Ranji Trophy debut in 2018-19, at the age of 20.

When starting out, Kotian was primarily a batter and an occasional offspinner. But soon he was focusing on both disciplines. "Now I don't think whether I am a batter or a bowler," he says. "Whatever I am doing, batting, bowling or fielding, I try to make an impact in that department."

The result is, despite batting in the lower order, Kotian goes into the Ranji Trophy final against Vidarbha as Mumbai's second-highest run-scorer and third-highest wicket-taker this season.

A key to his success is his street-smartness, which probably comes from his tennis-ball cricket experience.

In 2022-23, Mumbai were chasing 144 against Himachal Pradesh in the final of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. They needed six off the last over with three wickets in hand. Kotian was on strike, facing the HP captain Rishi Dhawan.

"On that wicket, the ball was skidding," Kotian recalls. "So I knew he would try to take advantage of that and bowl a bouncer."

As Kotian had anticipated, Dhawan banged the first three balls into the pitch. He pulled the first to deep midwicket for two runs. The next was a dot. When Dhawan went short once again, Kotian dispatched him over fine leg to seal the win with a six.

For his 9 off 5 balls and 3 for 15 in four overs, Kotian was named the Player of the Final.

That match was roughly 50 days before the 2023 IPL auction, ahead of which Kotian had been at trials for several franchises. A day before the auction, he took his maiden five-wicket haul in the Ranji Trophy. The stars seemed to be aligning for him.

But on the auction day, Kotian was shocked to learn that he was on the BCCI's Suspect Bowling Action list. He had no idea how and when that happened. Later, he remembered that during a Syed Mushtaq Ali game against Uttarakhand, the match referee had expressed concerns over his action. "But since there was no restriction imposed, and I was bowling regularly, I didn't pay much attention to it," he says.

Only the franchises know how close they were to picking him, but the news meant no one risked a bid.

Kotian was hurt but he decided to focus on the Ranji Trophy. Unfortunately, there was more disappointment to come.

His participation in Mumbai's last league game of the 2022-23 season, against Maharashtra, seemed to be over on the first day when he injured his right hand while attempting a return catch off Kedar Jadhav. "The webbing between my ring finger and little finger was split and I had six stitches," he says.

Maharashtra's first innings ended on 384. In response, Mumbai, who needed a lead to qualify for the knockouts, were in a spot of bother at 238 for 6. In walked Kotian.

"When I had stitches, I thought I would not be able to bat," he says. "But slowly I got used to the pain. And since the team was in trouble, I had to go out. Once I started batting, I got into a flow and took the team close to Maharashtra's first-innings total."

When Mumbai lost their ninth wicket, they were still 12 behind. Kotian helped them draw level in the company of No. 11 Siddharth Raut.

Kotian was on strike for the last ball of left-arm spinner Vicky Ostwal's over. He called Raut and said: "Only one run remains now. Even if this ball is a dot, you can take a single in the next over."

But Raut suggested otherwise. "He said if it were a fast bowler, he would have managed. But Satyajeet Bachhav [another left-arm spinner] was operating from the other end. So he asked me, 'Since you are well set, why don't you finish it on this ball?'"

It made sense to Kotian; after all, he was well set on 93. "Maharashtra had packed the off side, so I thought I would move across and just tap the ball on the leg side for an easy single," he says. "I didn't want to take a risky run."

He ended up moving too far outside off and swept the ball onto the stumps. With neither team managing a first-innings lead and the match ending in a draw, both Mumbai and Maharashtra were knocked out, and Andhra qualified for the quarter-final.

Kotian thought about that shot for many days. What if he had not played the sweep? What if he had gone for another shot? What if Raut had managed a single in the next over?

"Whenever I would meet my team-mates, this topic would invariably come up," Kotian says. "But they would tell me not to overthink as I had only brought the side this close.

During the off season, Kotian travelled to Chennai to get his bowling action tested but the assessment could not be completed because of a technical issue. And that means, though he can continue bowling, his name remains on the Suspect Bowling Action list.

After the ongoing season, he plans to visit Chennai again to get his name cleared.

Meanwhile, he continues to churn out impressive performances. "Last year I had scored 300 [303] runs; this year I wanted to take it to 450 to 500," he says. "In bowling, my target was to take 30 wickets."

He is more or less there, with a match to go. He started the season with three half-centuries in three innings, and despite batting mostly at No. 8 or lower, he has 481 runs at an average of 48.10. With the ball, he has 22 wickets at an average of 17.72 and a strike rate of 34.2. Only Mohit Avasthi (35) and Shams Mulani (31) have more wickets for Mumbai.

"My strength is the extra bounce I get because of my height," Kotian, who is six-foot tall, says. "And I can turn the ball at pace. While in white-ball, the focus is on keeping the ball away from the batsman's reach, I know here I have to vary my length and speed. I have to dangle the carrot and purchase wickets."

Another box he has ticked this season - and in some style - is scoring his first century. In the quarter-final against Baroda, Mumbai had taken a 36-run lead in the first innings. In the second dig, they had extended it to 349 when Kotian walked in at No. 10.

At that point, Kotian had ten fifties to his name including two scores in the 90s, but batting in the lower order did not give him many opportunities to score a hundred. Here, too, he was on 15 when the ninth wicket fell. But Tushar Deshpande hung around and they added 232 for the last wicket. Kotian finished unbeaten on 120 off 129 and Deshpande scored 123, also off 129. It was only the time that a No. 10 and No. 11 had scored a century in the same innings in first-class cricket.

Kotian's next knock, in the semi-final against Tamil Nadu, was perhaps even better. The conditions were more bowler friendly: Tamil Nadu were bowled out for 146 after choosing to bat, and Mumbai were 106 for 7. Batting at No. 10, Kotian scored an unbeaten 89 and added 88 with Deshpande to stretch Mumbai's lead to 232. That was enough to secure an innings win.

The next game is the final against Vidarbha, and the prince of tennis-ball cricket will be hoping for a Ranji Trophy coronation.