INTERVIEW
Follow UsMumbai Cricket values grit as much as it does class. On Azad Maidan and Shivaji Park - two of the city’s famous breeding grounds - thousands of players travel in the early hours of the day, getting badgered by the Mumbai crowd in the local, braving the dry and humid weather with a shared dream: playing cricket for India.
Shams Mulani isn’t any different.
At the age of nine, Shams travelled to Shivaji Park, and over the next few years, his journey took multiple turns, including a switch to Matunga Gymkhana grounds, where he worked under the watchful eye of veteran coach Hemant Hadkar.
But had he not received a piece of advice from Padmakar Shivalkar, one of Mumbai’s great left-arm spinners, Mulani would have continued seeking pastures in his then primary skill, batting.
“Funnily enough, I started as a batter, then bowling was something that I developed later because I didn’t get to bat a lot in the nets,” Shams said in an exclusive chat with Cricket.com.
“You bat for 20 minutes and bowl for one and a half hours. So my bowling improved like that. Then I had a chat with Paddy (Padmakar) Shivalkar sir when I was 15-16, he guided me a lot. From there, my bowling took off. But if you ask me, I love batting.”
Ever since his First-Class debut in 2018, Shams has been one of Mumbai's premier wicket-takers with 133 wickets. However, the left-handed batter has always taken great pride in his batting. In fact, the 26-year-old still would prefer to hold the bat over the ball, making several batters dance to his tunes.
“Whenever you ask me what will I prefer, I will always choose batting. My whole life, my parents and my coaches have always known me as a batter. I have always walked out with a mindset when I bat that I am a batter and never throw my wicket. That’s why I take my batting very seriously, I always like to put a price on my wicket,” Shams added.
“Definitely, I didn’t like bowling at all. I only wanted to bat, bat and bat. I know my bowling needs to be there, so I must keep improving. If two-three games don’t go your way, they start criticising you,” he insisted.
Initial hurdles didn’t bog down Shams
But all his dreams came crashing down when he was just 14. After just one encounter in the Vijay Merchant Trophy in 2011-12, Shams suffered his first setback, which wasn’t his last either. Over the next few years, the left-arm spinner suffered multiple setbacks when climbing the age-group ladder. Then, he realised that playing cricket wasn’t just about things on the field but rather about focusing on the mental, fitness and skillset aspect.
“Disappointment is a constant, you always want to play. But you can’t dwell upon the fact and must do something about it. You must work on your fitness, skillset or mental aspect to get your game to that level. You can’t master the sport; that’s what I have learnt,” Shams added.
“You can never be like, I know cricket, I have seen it all. Every day is a learning curve, and you just want to keep learning every day and keep an open mind. That’s really helped me a lot.”
It wasn’t until a strong all-round performance against Baroda that helped the then 22-year-old to turn all the attention towards him. Shams walked in at 246/7 and put on a 108-run partnership with Shardul Thakur, where he scored a 141-ball 89 and later picked up a ten-wicket haul that changed the perception surrounding him.
“That match (against Baroda) really changed things for me as a cricketer. I’m going to take it forward, so the all-round performance was there. It wasn’t a wow performance, but it was like this guy has done something tremendous,” Shams recalled with fond memories.
Just when he thought the breakthrough was around the corner, Shams was one of the four players who tested COVID-19 positive, leading to a temporary skip from his cricketing ladder, and the all-rounder had regrets recalling that.
“I was really regretting that I could have been more careful. That season could have given me a ticket to the IPL and changed my life as a player,” Shams said.
If Mumbai is bowling, Shams is going to pick a fifer
Visualising remains integral to a cricketer’s success, and Shams is no different. Just like Steve Smith, who often shadow bats for endless hours, the Mumbai all-rounder spends a lot of his spare time thinking about the revolutions on the ball and where to pitch the ball so that he gets more and more wickets.
“When it came to Ranji Trophy, I told myself that you have got the skillset; you just have to take your game to the next level and mentally always be there. You have to dream of picking up plenty of wickets, then only you will take wickets. I just try to focus on the game and improve my skillset, even if I’m practising, I constantly work on my game,” Shams added.
In a curtailed Ranji season, the focus was on the left-arm spinner, who kept climbing the cricketing ladder, adding more and more laurels to his game, with 29 wickets in the first three fixtures of the season, including an 11-wicket haul against Saurashtra, where he trapped Cheteshwar Pujara in front for 91.
Since 2019, the Raigad-born spinner has scalped 126 wickets at the First-Class level and has picked up ten five-wicket hauls, which is only the joint-second best in the country, level with Vidarbha’s Aditya Sarwate. In 2021-22, Mulani picked nine five-wicket hauls and five ten-wicket hauls in just six games.
“I got that confidence, there was a time when people thought that if Mumbai are bowling, then Shams is going to take a fifer. In Mumbai, you have got always to perform, and there’s always pressure,” Mulani beamed a smile while talking about his game.
Behind the scenes with Mumbai cricket
Not often are bowlers blessed with the opportunity of testing their trade against some of the top-quality batters in the country. One of the perks of being a bowler from Mumbai - a city that has been blessed with the talents such as Sarfaraz Khan, Suryakumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, Ajinkya Rahane and Prithvi Shaw, amongst others - is that you can test your skillset against them.
That has helped Shams hone his skillset and sharpen his mind, making his game more aware of the details that often go unnoticed.
“It is a privilege of mine to bowl to batters who have played the game at the highest level. Because these players can play spin well, if you get hit for a six in the practise session, you know that the ball was good, but the batters were just better,” Shams details about his encounter in the Mumbai nets.
“When we practise, Sarfaraz, Suryakumar, Prithvi, Iyer and I, we are very competitive, these guys don’t want to get out to me, and I don’t want these guys to hit me for a four or a six. It is a good competition, and obviously, these guys practise hard, and you can’t take it for granted. It is a good confidence booster if you can contain them or get them out at the nets; it really helps you as a bowler.”
So what did Shams learn from the likes of Rahane, Shreyas and Suryakumar over the last few years?
“From Ajinkya Rahane, I have learnt discipline. The man has played over 80 Tests (sic), and he’s so disciplined, he’s not like, I’m this or that. He helps the team and is always grounded, and I have learnt that from him over the last two years. It was a great bonus for us,” Shams had his say on Rahane’s presence in the dressing room.
“With Shreyas, it is the attitude, he thinks that he is obviously the best. That’s what you need, you need that confidence to go out there and express yourself. With Suryakumar Yadav, it is hard work and resilience. He wasn’t picked till he was 29. He has this tag of being a good white-ball player, and then playing that innings, and whatever he has done in the shortest format, it is history. Not just that, to play for India in the longest format as well, it is a great story. Small small things, you can learn from every player,” he added.
It isn’t the first time when Shams is around in the Mumbai Indians dressing room, with the left-arm spinner being picked as a net-bowler during the IPL that happened in the Middle East. However, in 2022, the Mumbai all-rounder finally realised a small dream when his home team, Mumbai Indians, finally picked him at the Auction.
“It was a dream come true moment to be picked by Mumbai, but the biggest dream still is to play for India and don that Indian blue. It is a small but very important goal (to play in IPL), especially in Mumbai Indians, where some greats are associated with the game,” Shams insisted.
“There is Sachin (Sir), Mark and Polly are also there, so it is a special feeling. It is a great opportunity to play with players you just see on television, and sharing a dressing room is a good learning experience. I love to keep learning.”
***
In a cricket-loving city like Mumbai, there is immense competition over spots, and the first to blink often find their way back to the harrowing bottom. Shams was blessed to find this first-hand early on in his career, with plenty of left-arm spinners around him. While the competition is set to bog down several talents, Shams is cut from a different cloth.
“For me personally, I look at the best in the world and be there. I don’t want to be the best in India, so if I just look around me, I won’t grow a lot. If I have to reach that international level, I just look at the likes of Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Nathan Lyon and see how I can improve my game,” a thoughtful Shams expressed.
Given a chance, the now 26-year-old would go all the way back to 2015, when he was a teenager, and advise himself that ‘work harder’ and ‘increase the intensity’, something that he now believes could have helped him achieve his goals in life faster.
“When I was 19, I felt that I would work hard and play. But at that time, if I really thought about it, that I was going to play for India like how I think now, would have worked harder. I would have been more focused on what I wanted to achieve, I could have increased the intensity. I would have given it to the game, and rest could have taken care of itself.”
