Follow UsMumbai Indians (MI) captain Hardik Pandya, after winning the toss against the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), informed them that they would be playing a pacer, whose name he almost forgot, but then remembered that Ashwani Kumar is making his debut for the Blue And Gold brigade. Off his first ball itself, Ashwani picked the wicket of Ajinkya Rahane on his IPL debut.
Ashwani Kumar has played all three formats for his domestic team, Punjab, representing them in two first-class matches, four List-A and T20s. Even after making his debut at the age of 18 in 2019, Ashwani did not get much recognition, and it took him three years to play the next red-ball game for Punjab.
It was the Sher-E-Punjab T20, Punjab’s own T20 league, that got Ashwani the much-needed limelight as he made a name for himself, defending low targets in the last over.
In the 2023 edition, playing for the Blasters, he defended 8 in the last over against the Knights. And then, in the very next match against the Falcons, he once again defended 11, even after being hit for a four on the first ball of the last over.
In the 2024 edition, Ashwani played for the Knights, and he did more of the same, bowling tight lines at the death. He picked up 11 wickets in seven games and, most importantly, was impeccable at the death.
So far, the Mohali-born Ashwani has picked up eight wickets across his professional career.
Nowhere close to where Jasprit Bumrah is, but Mumbai are definitely trying hard to fill the gap left by Bumrah.
Especially in death overs, since they already have two great new ball bowlers in Trent Boult and Deepak Chahar. They needed someone to bowl the death overs and tried Satyanarayana Raju in the first two games. Since no success was found with Raju, the MI have now gone with Ashwani.
The left-arm pacer is known to vary his pace and has had immense success bowling with the old ball, making him one of the obvious choices for the franchise in a phase where they have struggled.