In their first three rounds of the 2025-26 Ranji Trophy season, Mumbai, despite being second on the table, had managed to take only 39 out of the possible 60 wickets with the ball. In that tally, 28 had fallen to the spinners who had taken a considerable bulk of the load to get their side into the game in the previous matches.
While Shams Mulani has been in the spotlight with two five-wicket hauls this season, Himanshu Singh has played a supporting role for him from the other end in Tanush Kotian’s absence.
The 22-year-old, who moved from Uttar Pradesh to Mumbai to pursue his cricket ambitions and was called up to bowl to the Indian team last September, had his best day with the ball this season against Himachal Pradesh at the Sharad Pawar BKC ground on Sunday, claiming 3/26 in eight overs to leave HP in all sorts of trouble. After Mumbai ended up with 446, HP were reeling at 94/7 with follow-on looming large.
With the pitch offering variable bounce, the off-spinner, who clearly seems inspired by Indian great Ravichandran Ashwin with his open-chested, high arm action that helps impart overspin on the ball, first dismissed the set batter, Pukhraj Mann, for 44, trapping him in front to end a 41-run stand between him and Ekant Sen.
He further grew in confidence to remove Mayank Dagar in the same mode of dismissal with a straight delivery and then ended the day with the scalp of Aryaman Dhaliwal to put his side in the driver’s seat.
For once, Mulani at the other end had the lesser share of the limelight, as he ended the day with 1/12 in his 11 overs. However, with Himanshu finding his rhythm, his containing role proved to be the ideal foil to keep a tight lid on the scoring rate. Himanshu, however, would be the first one to admit that the bowling performance was set up by the new ball duo of captain Shardul Thakur and Tushar Deshpande.
Walking out to bowl with just 30 minutes to go for tea, the new ball held the key for Mumbai, and Deshpande, fresh from a critical contribution with the bat, sprinted in and bowled arguably the best new ball spell of his season so far.
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The stockily built pacer generated movement off the pitch when he landed it full and got steep bounce when he dug it in short, accounting for the wickets of Ankit Kalsi and captain Ankush Bains to leave HP reeling in the first innings.
Deshpande tends to hit the bat harder than the batter would expect, and was supported by Thakur at the other end. The India all-rounder also got the new ball to move off the pitch and dismissed opener Sidhant Purohit lbw for 1 to dent the visitors early.
For the first ten overs, the pair operated in perfect rhythm – maintaining a probing line just outside off stump and consistently drawing false strokes. Even when the edges didn’t land in the fielders’ hands, they kept the batters guessing, with several nicks flying through the gap between second slip and gully.
Mulani stands tall with bat
Earlier, a 75-run stand for the ninth wicket between Mulani and Deshpande frustrated the HP bowlers and extended Mumbai well beyond the 400-mark. At 370/8, the visitors would have hoped to bowl the hosts out for less than 400, but both southpaws showed excellent application on a docile surface to put Mumbai well in front in the contest.
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A key feature of Mulani’s batting was his reverse sweeping against the left-arm spin duo of Mayank Dagar and Aryaman Dhaliwal, against the spin, which indicated the lack of turn on the surface that had become bare due to the intense heat at the ground.
Deshpande grew in confidence with each passing over, going aerial as his stay wore on, and together with Mulani tired the bowlers on the second day.
Overnight batters Siddesh Lad and Akash Anand were dismissed inside the first 20 overs, falling for 127 and 34, respectively.
Brief Scores: Mumbai 446 all out in 137.2 overs vs HP 94/7 in 37 overs (Mann 34; Himanshu 3/26, Deshpande 2/21).
