It was a night to remember for young Mumbai Indians seamer Ashwani Kumar.
Ashwani made an impactful debut by picking four wickets against the Kolkata Knight Riders to help bowl out the visitors for 116 iin Mumbai on Monday, March 31, 2025.
Beside Ashwani Kumar (4/24), Deepak Chahar(2/19), Trent Boult(1/23) bowled well in the Powerplay to take control of the match and put KKR on the backfoot.
MI did not allow KKR batters a chance for any worthy partnerships. Andre Russell got two MI wickets as consolation before the home team overhauled the 117 run target in just 12.5 overs.
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The IPL has shown the world a string of impressive seamers who have risen up the ranks. But none have been as impressive as 23-year-old Ashwani from Punjab's Jhanjeri who came to the Wankhede, perfected his job and conquered the hearts of MI's home supporters.
And what a start to his career!
With only four senior T20 matches to show for, from four List A games and two Ranji Trophy matches, Ashwani's rich returns speak volumes of the control he has on his skills.
A net bowler for many IPL teams, he made his mark in the Shere Punjab T20 tournament before he got his big breakthrough with an IPL debut at MI.
No protein shakes, no heavy lunch, all that the nervous youngster could eat before his debut was a banana.
And that was all the energy he needed to become the first Indian ever to to grab four wickets on IPL debut as he finished with figures of 3-0-24-4.
The left arm seamer struck with the very first ball on debut, a full length ball outside off stump, KKR Skipper Ajinkya Rahane threw his bat at it and the ball took off. He was caught in the deep on the second attempt by Tilak Varma, registering Ashwani's first IPL scalp.
But the young man was not done, In his second spell, he broke a nascent partnership taking out Rinku Singh and Impact Player Manish Pandey in the 11th over.
In his next over he removed the dangerous Andre Russell for 5 to complete his history-making haul.
He bowled a lot of variations and hit the hard lengths consistently. He got some late movement to aid his deceptive bowling.
Picked up by MI at the auction for Rs 30 lakhs (Rs 3 million), the Player of the Match has shown that MI can do without veteran Jasprit Bumrah if youngsters are thrown into the mix.
Deepak Chahar
Chahar struck in his very first over dismissing the dangerous Quinton de Kock.
He foxed the South African with a length wide outside the off stump. The batter had to reach for it and was not in control of the shot and was caught out by a leaping Ashwani Kumar at mid off.
Chahar struck again three overs later in his second spell. With KKR at 36 for 3 in 5 overs, Venkatesh Iyer had to stick around and get the scoreboard moving.
The KKR vice-captain's susceptibility against the short ball early in his innings is an open secret and Chahar used that ploy to good effect.
In the 5th over, Chahar bowled a good bouncer on the middle stump, Iyer made a late decision to ramp the ball over the 'keeper, was cramped for room. All he managed was play it to the 'keeper to walk back for 3.
Chahar got some early swing and when he kept his lengths full and on good length he was sent to the cleaners. When he came back in his second spell, he changed his length understanding the batter's weakness and eventually the short ball bearing fruit.
Trent Boult
The Kiwi quick has a knack of picking wickets in his first over and he did it again against KKR on Monday.
He kept his lines tight and asked questions of KKR Opener Sunil Narine off the first three deliveries. Boult struck with the very next one as he got some swing -- a full ball on the off stump. Narine made room, swung his bat and missed it completely. The ball sneaked past his bat and crashed into the middle stump. The 5th time Narine has been dismissed by the New Zealander in as many games.
With 30 scalps, Boult now has the most wickets in the first over of an IPL match.
Boult kept it on the off stump while mixing his lengths. He got clobbered by Ankrish Raghuvanshi in his second over and was unlucky to not get another wicket when Venky Iyer was dropped on 3 by Ashwani at short third man.
In his three over spell, Boult took one wicket for 14 runs and proved a potent partnership with Chahar opening the bowling.
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