'So so proud of you both' - Suryakumar Yadav heaps praise on Shams Mulani, Tanush Kotian for Duleep Trophy heroics

While Shams Mulani and Tanush Kotian are no novices with the bat, it's important to recognize that they aren't too experienced batters either. However, they acted like especially proficient players with the bat during their time in the middle for India A against India D in the second round of the 2024 Duleep Trophy played in Anantapur.

By the time Kotian walked to the crease with India D on top, Mulani had already steadied the ship by scoring 31 of the eventual tally of 89 he ended up with. Sticking around together, they were more than successful in dousing the fire the bowlers of India A had breathed earlier in the day. Kotian's 12th half-century was the more enterprising of the two, as he pounced on anything loose to tire out the opposition. 

Their Mumbai senior and current T20I skipper of the Indian team, Suryakumar Yadav, was effusive in praising the two for fighting it out in the middle for their 91-run stand for the seventh wicket, as he took to X to express his admiration.

Surya, who is a part of the India C squad, recently suffered a setback with an injury to the hand he copped during the Buchi Babu Invitational Tournament. The dynamic batter missed the first round of the Duleep Trophy since he was away at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru to nurse his injury.

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In his tweet, he mentioned the two saviors for India A to be the "crisis men" for Mumbai, and rightly so. In the previous edition of the Ranji Trophy, not only they starred with the ball but also turned out to be highly priceless with the bat. A couple of prominent instances of them scoring substantially with the bat were Mulani and Kotian scoring 54 and 120* in their side's second innings against Baroda, respectively, and 30 and 56 in Mumbai's second and first innings against Kerala, respectively.