MUMBAI: So nervous was Ashwani Kumar before making his IPL debut for the Mumbai Indians against the Kolkata Knight Riders on Monday night that he couldn’t even have his lunch, preferring to just have a banana instead.
A few hours later, the 23-year-old left-arm pacer dazzled his way into the limelight under the lights at the Wankhede Stadium, and became one of the most googled names in India. Enjoying the best-ever debut by an Indian bowler in the history of the IPL, the young turk from Punjab dismantled KKR’s batting line-up, taking four for 24 in a sensational three-over spell that broke the back of KKR.
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Inspired by Ashwini’s dream initiation into the IPL, MI, after suffering defeats in their first two matches, finally got their campaign going, as the hosts logged their first win of IPL-2025 in style, thrashing KKR by eight wickets with 43 balls remaining in the match.
Playing their first match at home this season, the five-time IPL champs thus enjoyed a sweet homecoming.
After asking KKR to take first strike, MI shot out the defending IPL champs for 116 in just 16.2 overs. Ashwini , of course, capitalized on early strikes by MI’s senior pacers Deepak Chahar ( two for 19 in two) and Trent Boult (1-23 in four overs), while the hosts also thrived on some electric fielding by Naman Dhir, who took three catches, the last one, a diving effort to pouch Harshit Rana (4) off Puthur, being a gem.
MI than coasted home by the 13th over itself, as their new recruit, South African opener Ryan Rickelton (62 not out, 41b, 4×4, 5×6) tore into the KKJR attack, while Suryakumar Yadav (29 not out, 9b, 3×4, 2×6) finished off the game in trademark style, scooping an Andre Russell delivery over the ‘keeper’s head for a six. Never mind that their former captain Rohit Sharma (13) failed again.
Missing out on his lunch, Ashwani chose to feast on KKR’s batsmen instead, scalping the opposition captain Ajinkya Rahane (11) with his first ball in the IPL, before following up with the wickets of Rinku Singh (17), Manish Pandey (19) and Andre Russell (5) to leave a 30,000 home crowd, making a deafening noise by now, delirious.
Flashing an infectious smile after his first-match heroics, Ashwani, who hails from a small town called jhanjeri, near Chandigarh, revealed that it was his captain Hardik Pandya’s advice to bowl a sort of a ‘bodyline’ that did the trick for him. “Hardik bhai told me to bowl short and to bowl at the body and that led to a wicket. In my village, everyone would be watching. They were just waiting for my debut, and by God’s grace, I got an opportunity tonight and did well.”
Introduced into the attack in the fourth over, the Punjab quick struck gold with his first ball in the IPL as Rahane sliced a full and wide delivery to Tilak Varma, who nearly made a mess of the catch before recovering well to pouch the ball with his left hand. He then had Rinku caught at deep point by Naman Dhir.
Turning his IPL debut into a fairytale story, he unleashed a ’jaffa’, as Pandey was bowled neck and crop by a back-of-length delivery that cut him into half, leaving him caught at the crease before hitting the top of leg stump.
For his fourth wicket , the talented rookie, after setting up Russell with a few short balls, produced a slightly fuller ball that Russell went to dispatch into the crowd, but only ended up hearing the ‘death rattle.’
Only three bowlers have enjoyed a better IPL debut than Ashwani, with Alzarri Joseph (6-12 for MI vs SRH in 2019) heading the list. Ashwani has only played four senior T20 matches prior to his IPL debut, in addition to two Ranji Trophy and four List A matches for Punjab.
This is the first time in his career that Ashwani picked up a four-wicket haul in a match. His previous-best was three for 37 in List A cricket and one for 19 in T20 cricket.
The seamer has a really good and a deceptive bouncer. Known for his pace variations, Ashwani also has very good wide yorker and impressed the MI talent scouts in the Sher-E-Punjab T20 Trophy last year, where he closed out plenty of matches with his effective death bowling.
Clearly, MI’s talent scouts are doing something right, though credit must also be given to MI’s bowling coach-former India bowling coach Paras Mhambrey for ensuring a talent like Ashwani was provided this big stage early in his promising career.
If it was left-arm spinner Vignesh Puthur who made an impressive debut in the opening match against Chennai Super Kings, taking three for 32 in four overs, it was Ashwini’s turn to zoom into the limelight at the Wankhede.
Playing at the Wankhede for the first time in MI colours, Boult gave the hosts the perfect start when he sent KKR opener Sunil Narine packing for a duck with a signature full delivery, just the fourth ball of the match.
Chahar accounted for Quinton de Kock (1), who was well-caught by a leaping Ashwani at mid-off in the second over, and Venkatesh Iyer (edged behind an upper-cut. Tottering at 45 for five in seven overs, KKR were saved the embarrassment of being bowled out under 100 purely due to the cameos of local boy Angkrish Raghuvanshi (26, 16b, 3×4, 1×6) and Ramandeep Singh (22, 12b, 1×4, 2×6).
Get the latest IPL 2025 updates on Times of India, including match schedules, team squads, points table and IPL live score for CSK, MI, RCB, KKR, SRH, LSG, DC, GT, PBKS, and RR. Don’t miss the list of players in the race for IPL Orange Cap and IPL Purple cap.
