Ashwani Kumar started his IPL career on the perfect note as the 23-year-old pacer took the wicket of Ajinkya Rahane with his very first ball on debut. Ashwani Kumar was included in the Mumbai Indians playing XI in place of Satyanarayana Raju and repaid the team’s faith by dismissing the Kolkata Knight Riders captain. Rahane miscued his shot completely and the ball went to Tilak Varma at deep backward point. Tilak did fumble at first but was able to complete the catch as Ashwani Kumar started his celebration.
That was just the beginning as the youngster Ashwani Kumar went on to take the wickets of Rinku Singh, Manish Pandey and Andre Russell. It was the first time that an Indian bowler took 4 wickets on IPL debut. Born in Mohali, Ashwani Kumar grabbed headlines with his performances in the Sher-e-Punjab T20 tournament.
The young fast bowler is well known for his bowling in the death overs and he was bought by Mumbai Indians for Rs 30 lakh during the IPL 2025 mega auction. In 2024, he was a part of the Punjab Kings squad but did not feature in a single game for the franchise. He made his debut for Punjab in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy in 2022 and played four matches. He took three wicket at an economy of 8.5 during the tournament. He has also played two First-Class matches and four List A games for Punjab.
Hardik Pandya may have momentarily forgotten the name of his debutant at the toss, but 23-year-old Ashwani Kumar made sure he wouldn’t be easily forgotten going forward. The left-arm seamer from Punjab delivered a match-winning spell, claiming 4 for 24 as Mumbai Indians bundled Kolkata Knight Riders out for a paltry 116, a target they chased down with ease courtesy an unbeaten half-century from Ryan Rickelton to register their first win of IPL 2025.
Pitch Report and Toss
Pitch Report : We have an absolute belter here. We have a beautiful covering of grass and underneath it’s really hard, it means it’s a batter’s paradise. I’m looking forward to the spin twins, Varun Chakravarthy and Sunil Narine. The better bowlers always find a way to defend on these kind of surfaces.
But, the faster and faster you bowl, the farther you will travel. You are playing dead-centre of the ground and you have options to play with. The shortest boundary is 54m, it gets longer as you move across the ground. A bouncer is a good option to surprise batters and to not allow them to line you up, reckon Eoin Morgan and Nick Knight.
Toss : Mumbai Indians skipper Hardik Pandya won the toss and chose to bowl with Will Jacks and debutant Ashwani Kumar in the Playing XI. Kolkata Knight Riders skipper Ajinkya Rahane batting first on his home ground at Mumbai made one change bringing in fit again Sunil Narine for Moeen Ali
Ashwani Kumar’s historic 4-fer on debut skittles KKR for paltry 116 runs
Trent Boult set the tone early, claiming his 30th IPL first-over wicket by dismantling Sunil Narine’s stumps with a swinging full delivery. MI’s dominance continued as Deepak Chahar struck twice, while debutant Ashwani Kumar made an immediate impact, dismissing KKR captain Ajinkya Rahane with his very first ball. The collapse left KKR reeling at the lowest PowerPlay score of the season.
Ashwani Kumar tripling his career tally of wickets – from two to six – over the course of one evening relegated everything else to the side. But he was merely exploiting a lovely platform set by two high-quality new-ball bowlers.
Trent Boult once again showed off the freakish ability he has to take wickets in the first over. For the 30th time in the IPL, he provided his team with a perfect start, rearranging Sunil Narine’s stumps. From the other end, Deepak Chahar took away Quinton de Kock’s strengths – hitting balls at the stumps over square leg – by keeping his lines wide and having him caught at mid-off.
KKR’s troubles deepened as Hardik Pandya dismissed the dangerous Angkrish Raghuvanshi (26 off 16) with a short ball and a well-placed fielder in the deep. Forced to bolster their batting, KKR introduced Manish Pandey as an impact substitute, but it made little difference. Ashwani Kumar stole the show in this phase, expertly setting up and dismissing key batters.
Ashwani Kumar got Rinku Singh caught at deep cover before outfoxing both Manish Pandey and Andre Russell with short balls followed by well-directed length deliveries that crashed into the stumps. His dream spell left KKR in tatters.
Ashwani Kumar is 23 years old. He had played only four T20s before. Naturally, he was nervous when he was told he would be playing this game. He didn’t eat lunch. It’s possible he may never do so on any match day given how well he performed and how superstitious cricketers can be. Ashwani Kumar picked up a wicket with his first ball, and it was the opposition captain Ajinkya Rahane. Over the course of a dream day, he took down Rinku Singh and Andre Russell as well. This league does not present any higher quality of wickets.
The most impressive thing about Ashwani Kumar was how hard he was to line up. He has an orthodox bowling action. His speeds were largely in the early to mid 130kph. Those are the kind of bowlers that get smashed around in the IPL. But try as they might, KKR were never able to do it. Ashwani Kumar came to prominence because of his performances in the Sher-E-Punjab T20 trophy last year, when he displayed an affinity for the death overs.
Ashwani Kumar didn’t really bowl in that phase of the innings against KKR, but did show why he could find success in high-pressure situations. It was his control of length.
Rinku tried to take him down, but one ball after using his feet and hitting him for four, he was caught on the deep-point boundary. Ashwani Kumar pulled his length back to surprise the batter.
Russell tried to take him down, but one ball after clearing his front leg and smacking him through the line, he was beaten by a bouncer and then bowled by a 140kph pitched-up delivery that surprised the batter again. Ashwani Kumar was innately aware of when to vary his lengths and was able to do so even when high-quality batters were attacking him and putting him under pressure.
KKR continued to attack, conscious that Wankhede Stadium is a chase-friendly venue. Despite those early wickets, they indulged in eight aggressive responses in the first four overs. Some worked. Some didn’t. This is T20 cricket in the modern age. There is very little holding back. Rinku could have. He fell playing a big shot right after finding the boundary, even though KKR only had Russell and Ramandeep Singh as recognised batters with nearly half the innings left to play.
Ramandeep Singh briefly counterattacked with two sixes, but Mitchell Santner wrapped up the innings with 22 balls to spare, capping off a dominant bowling display by MI.
Ryan Rickelton’s superlative 62 runs finished the MI chase in an resounding 8 wicket win over KKR
KKR’s new-ball duo, Spencer Johnson and Harshit Rana, found prodigious swing and consistently beat the bat, but an early breakthrough eluded them. Ryan Rickelton eventually broke the shackles, taking on Johnson for a six and a four before going one better against Rana in the following over, smashing a six and two boundaries. The only setback for MI came in the form of their former skipper Rohit Sharma, who struggled for fluency before falling to a well-directed short ball from Andre Russell.
Ryan Rickelton was beaten by each of the first four balls he faced. His first four came off an inside edge, first six off a top edge, and all of a sudden, it really did look like T20 cricket was flipping hard. A pitch that was supposed to be a belter – because of the pace and bounce on offer – was being harnessed by the fast bowlers on both sides to telling effect.
But with only 117 to chase, Ryan Rickelton could bide his time, and when his opportunity came – Harshit Rana trying too much to pick up wickets and giving away a slower-ball on the half volley – he nailed a straight drive and never looked back. Ryan Rickelton brought up fifty with a six off Narine, and was at the other end when Suryakumar Yadav brought up victory with a six. Rohit Sharma, though, had another failure, falling for 13. The worries around his batting form continue.
Ryan Rickelton had no intention of dragging the chase deep. He took on Narine with a slog-swept six in the seventh over and then hammered two more in the 10th to bring up his maiden IPL half-century off just 33 balls. Russell struck again to remove Will Jacks, but Suryakumar Yadav arrived in blazing form, smashing an unbeaten 27 off just nine balls to seal the chase with 7.1 overs to spare.
Where most games in T20 are: the difference in two Powerplays couldn’t have been more stark. While MI rocked KKR after winning the toss, taking four wickets, they knocked down almost half of the target inside the PowerPlay. It was a canter.
Presentations and Road Ahead
Ajinkya Rahane the loosing KKR skipper said : Collective batting failure. It was a good wicket to bat on as I mentioned in the toss. 180-190 would have been good on this wicket. It has a very good bounce. Sometimes you have to use the pace and bounce. We got to learn really fast from this game.
Couldn’t do much with the ball. They tried their best. But not much runs on the board. We kept on losing wickets. Four wickets in the powerplay. It was difficult to consolidate and get that total on the board. You need that partnership going. You need one batsman to stay till the end.
Hardik Pandya the winning MI skipper said : Very satisfying to win, especially at home. The way we did it, as a group, everyone chipped in – can’t be happier. It’s always a challenge of picking one guy here and there. With our team it’s pretty sorted with the players who we are backing. This wicket just offered a bit more and we thought Ashwani can come in and bowl the way he bowled. First of all, it’s all because of the scouts.
All MI scouts have gone all the places and picked these young kids. We played a practice game and it looked like he had that zip and late swing, had a different action and plus he is a leftie. The way he took that wicket of Russell was a very crucial wicket. And especially, how he started with that catch of Quinton. Was great to see a fast bowler jumping that high. As I mentioned earlier, it’s a great sign for everyone to chip in and kick of the tournament for us.
Ashwani Kumar Player of the Match for his historic 4 wickets on debut said : It’s a big thing for me to get this opportunity and get the Man of the Match. My native place is in Mohali district. Has taken a lot of hard work and by God’s grace I’m here. I had full confidence but still there’s always nervousness before a game. Whatever opportunities I get, will make people proud back home.
Mumbai Indians (MI) got on the board in IPL 2025 with an eight-wicket victory over defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) which took their record against those opponents at Wankhede Stadium to 10-2. The win was set up by the most unlikely source. A fast bowler named Ashwani Kumar picked up the best figures by an Indian on IPL debut – 4 for 24 – to knock KKR over for 116.
MI have trounced KKR at the Wankhede to register their first win of the season. They won a good toss, sent the opposition in on a pitch with some grass and bundled them out for just 116 thanks to a four-fer from IPL debutant Ashwani Kumar. In reply, Ryan Rickelton smashed it everywhere after surviving a tricky couple of overs against the new ball from Spencer Johnson.
Suryakumar Yadav also joined in to put the finishing touches. So it’s a massive win for the home team with more than 7 overs to spare as they put the disappointments of the two losses behind them to start afresh at the Wankhede
It’s a day that 23-year-old left-arm pacer Ashwani Kumar will never forget. What a performance from him, becoming the first Indian to take a four-fer on IPL debut. He played a starring role, helping MI bounce back from two straight losses to kick off their first home game in style. They have an excellent overall record against KKR and it was total domination from Hardik Pandya’s team today. So all 10 teams have now tasted victory in this tournament.
Mumbai Indians will be on the road once more, this time to play LSG at the Ekana Stadium on April 4. KKR will head back home to face SRH on April 3 in a rematch of last year’s final.
Also Read:Â IPL 2025: Shreevats Goswami Adds Extra Layer To Eden Gardens Pitch Controversy