Ashwani Kumar, a young left-arm pacer from Punjab, made his Indian Premier League (IPL) debut for the Mumbai Indians against the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) at Wankhede Stadium. The 23-year-old got off to a fantastic start, taking his first IPL wicket on the opening ball of his career. His services were acquired by the five-time champions for INR 30 lakh during the 2025 IPL mega auction. Despite being a member of the Punjab Kings team, he did not play in any games during the previous season.
He made his domestic debut for Punjab in the 2022 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. He has only played four Twenty20 matches, though, and has only had a few opportunities, taking three wickets at an economy rate of 8.50. He has also participated in four List A games and two First-Class games for Punjab. Because of his performances in the Sher-e-Punjab T20 tournament, Ashwani gained notoriety. When he played for the BLV Blasters, he showed off his skills and attracted the attention of IPL scouts with his best numbers of 4/36.
His first IPL delivery was significant in his first match against KKR, as he got rid of KKR skipper Ajinkya Rahane. The ball was cut towards deep backward point by the right-hander, who was attempting to drive a full and wide delivery, and Tilak Varma made a juggling catch. In the same over, he notably produced an opportunity to dismiss Venkatesh Iyer, but Mitchell Santner dropped the catch.
Rahane
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Manish Pandey and Rinku Singh are eliminated by Ashwani Kumar in the same over.
He also made a spectacular catch earlier to get rid of Quinton de Kock from Deepak Chahar’s bowling. Mid-off, De Kock tried to clear, but Ashwani leaped and caught the ball with both hands. When he returned for his second over, the pcer dismissed Manish Pandey and Rinku Singh in the same over, significantly undermining KKR’s position. When Andre Russell failed to connect a length ball that rattled his stumps in his third over, he came back to clean him up.
Ashwani is the newest member in Mumbai’s heritage of supporting up-and-coming domestic athletes. This season, they have also provided Vignesh Puthur of Kerala and Satyanarayana Raju of Andhra with possibilities.
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