Mumbai Indians pace find Ashwani makes a splash

The atmosphere at the Wankhede Stadium was electric on Monday night but Mumbai Indians (MI) desperately needed a win at home after two losses at the start of IPL 2025.

- Shalini Gupta

CHANDIGARH: The atmosphere at the Wankhede Stadium was electric on Monday night but Mumbai Indians (MI) desperately needed a win at home after two losses at the start of IPL 2025. And they found their match-winner in unheralded Ashwani Kumar, the 23-year-old left-arm pacer, interior Punjab who captured 4/24 on IPL debut to beat Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) by eight wickets.

With his first delivery in IPL, Kumar dismissed KKR skipper Ajinkya Rahane, caught at backward point. He also had Rinku Singh caught there off a short ball and then bowled Manish Pandey and Andre Russell. For the youngster from Jhanjeri village in Punjab, it was a sensational introduction to IPL. His spell of 3-0-24-4 earned him the Player-of-the-Match award and praise from captain Hardik Pandya.

"It's a very good feeling. I hadn't thought I'll do so well. Hardik bhai told me ""you're from Punjab and Punjabis are fearless, so just scare the opponents and enjoy yourself,"" he told iplt20.com.

Kumar's ability to crank up pace showed as he bowled at 135kph, 137kph and 140kph.