Dream debut for Ashwani Kumar
Mumbai Indians dropped Satyanarayana Raju and played 23-year-old left-arm pacer Ashwani Kumar in his place. Ashwani Kumar had a dream debut by dismissing the KKR Captain, Ajinkya Rahane, in his first ball. He went on to pick three more wickets of Venkatesh Iyer, Rinku Singh and Andre Russell.
Ashwani Kumar finished his spell with 4-24-4 and became the first Indian to pick 4 wickets on his IPL debut.
Rohit Sharma’s poor form continues
Rohit Sharma, who was dismissed for 0 and 8 in the first two matches played as an Impact player. The target was significantly less of 117 runs, and the first game at home ground, so the stage was set for Hitman to regain his form. But the opener struggled again today and got out for 13 runs. He is yet to find his batting rhythm this season.
As MI have ticked all the boxes yesterday, Rohit and Hardik coming back to form and Bumrah coming back from Injury will make them inevitable once again.
Ryan Rickleton’s maiden 50
Ryan Rickleton, who played for MI Cape Town in the SA20 league last year, was picked by the Mumbai Indians in the mega auction this year. He was hyped to be the like-for-like replacement for Quinton De Kock from the same country. However, he didn’t perform well in the first two matches.
Yesterday, in the first home match against KKR, he proved his worth that too, in front of Quinton De Kock, by scoring a match-winning fifty against them. Hope he continues his form and carries the legacy left behind by the former SA opener in MI.
MI’s Bowling legacy
Mumbai Indians are always known for their strong bowling unit. They always had fast bowlers to use the pace and bounce of the Wankhede wicket. Their Bowling unit is so strong that they defended the total 4 times in the IPL final, 3 times against CSK in the last decade, who were known for chasing targets, and 2 times they won the trophy by just 1 run.
There was also a famous quote created by the ffanss those days for MI that is “defend a low total, any day”. Yesterday, once again, their fast bowlers dominated against KKR batters even without their prime bowler Bumrah. Every MI fast bowler got a wicket yesterday.
KKR were bundled for 116 runs, and with that, MI holds a unique record of bowling out the opponents for the most time in IPL. Theyy have clean-swept their opponents for a record 36 times. The second best is 26 times for RCB, which is nowhere near MI.
MI can add a few more to that 36 once Bumrah also joins this lineup.
Also Read: MI vs KKR: Ashwani Kumar Rattles KKR’s Batting Unit On IPL Debut