R Ashwin’s and Nathan Lyon’s fan Himanshu Singh and Shams Mulani spearhead Mumbai’s win over Odisha in Ranji Trophy | Cricket News

Mumbai spinners Shams Mulani and Himanshu Singh ensured that the defending champions cantered to a win against Odisha an innings and 103 runs. On Saturday, they picked up their second win and increased their net run rate to 1.555 at the MCA-BKC ground.
Left-arm spinner Mulani finished with a five-wicket haul to go with his six-for in the first innings, while the offspinner Himanshu Singh ended with four wickets as Mumbai took home maximum points on the final day of the game.
This is Mulani’s 15th five-for from 21 innings as he ensured Mumbai take home a bonus point to strengthen their position in the Group A.
Mumbai needed a mere five wickets on the final day to complete the formalities. Odisha resumed at 126/5 and was already trailing 191 runs and found the going tough against Mumbai spinners on the fourth-day pitch. They would have folded far quicker than they did but Kartik Biswal offered some resance with a 77-ball 45. The last five wickets added 88 runs, courtesy Biswal’s fight.
While Mulani’s performance was the stand out in the outing, Mumbai would be certainly pleased with their 6.4’ tall off-spinner Himanshu Singh’s performance. He had finished with a six-wicket haul against Tripura followed a decent performance against Odisha.
“It is a long way to go for me. I’m learning from match to match. I’m not thinking too much. In the first innings, the ball wasn’t turning much, so if you see most of the wickets were in slips. Ajinkya Rahane said to bowl the way I had been bowling over the years,” Singh said after the game.
Himanshu idolises the two offspinners R Ashwin and Nathan Lyon. “I only follow two bowlers all over the world, Nathan Lyon and R Ashwin. Whatever I have learned, I have learned from watching them.”
Himanshu had bowled in India’s pre-season camp held in Chennai. “I had gone there first and Ranji happened later. I got confidence after bowling to the big players there. And that confidence is now reflecting here,” Himanshu Singh said.

Brief scores MUM 602/4 d (Shreyas 233, Siddhesh 169), Odisha 285 (Pattnaik 102, Mulani 6/115) and 214 (Mulani 5/71, Himanshu 4/77)