Shams Mulani: We will bounce back next year

Mumbai’s top wicket-taker insists that his team which lost to MP on Sunday, will be a better outfit next year

Shams Mulani

Mumbai’s most successful bowler — left-arm spinner Shams Mulani, 25 — who emerged as the top-wicket taker with 45 scalps from six games in this Ranji Trophy season, admitted that “small mistakes” cost Mumbai the Ranji title.

However, Mulani is confident that this young team will come back stronger next season. “I think we fought well in the final, but small mistakes in the fielding department may have made the difference and if we apply some more [discipline] in the batting then…

“We fell short of 100 runs in the first innings, otherwise we could have built pressure on them [MP]. Even though we were defending just around 100 runs in the second innings, we were fighting till the last run,” Mulani told mid-day after Mumbai’s six-wicket defeat to Madhya Pradesh in Bangalore on Sunday.

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“Both teams batted in different conditions. When they [MP] batted in the second innings, they displayed quite a good approach. Yes, we are disappointed. But this is a young team, we had only one or two players who were part of a Ranji-winning team. We learnt a lot from this [defeat]. When we will be back again next year, we will come as a strong team and win this trophy,” Mulani remarked.

Speaking about his own performance in the final, where he conceded 173 runs from his 63.2 overs for five wickets in the first innings, he said: “I was disappointed that I failed to get MP all out in less number of overs. In the form I am currently in, I thought that maybe I should [have]. But sometimes, luck goes the other way. Taking a five-wicket haul in the final is itself a big achievement. I am happy with my performance, but I would have been happier if I was on the winning side.”