I want to be a complete batter and a complete spinner: Tanush Kotian’s mission statement  Premium

Tanush Kotian, a rising cricket star from Mumbai, overcame obstacles to become a complete all-rounder.

“A great bowler can make the ball talk!”

The wallpaper on his mobile phone has the text embossed next to his off-break-bowling action.

“I keep changing the wallpaper but for the last few weeks, I have stuck to this,” he says.

They used to pen their frame of mind into a diary once upon a time. For Gen Z, the wallpaper is a sneak peek into their thought-process. And the best place to let a cricketer spell out his mindset is… obviously a cricket ground.

Days after he played a pivotal role in ending Mumbai’s 27-year wait for the Irani Cup, one sits down with Tanush Kotian — the lanky all-rounder from Vikhroli, a Mumbai suburb — at the Sharad Pawar Cricket Academy ground.

The facility — a breeding ground for age-group and senior cricketers alike – has been his comfort zone. But it has taken him a struggle of well over a decade to earn his comfort zone.

By the time you read this, he will be a member of India-A — the almost-there group – on its shadow tour of Australia ahead of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. But making it to the national selectors’ targeted pool has been a topsy-turvy ride.