Kumar placed on an impressive bowling show, changing into the primary Indian participant to take 4 wickets on IPL debut.
A glowing debut efficiency by medium pacer Ashwani Kumar, powered up by a single banana, helped Mumbai Indians register their first win of the Indian Premier League (IPL) season, downing Kolkata Knight Riders by eight wickets.
Kumar’s gorgeous however extremely sudden four-wickets-for-24-runs effort, coupled with an total disciplined bowling efficiency by the house crew, restricted champions Kolkata to a modest complete of 116, which Mumbai chased down with greater than seven overs to spare on Monday.
The 23-year-old took the essential wickets of Kolkata captain Ajinkya Rahane, Rinku Singh, Manish Pandey and the highly effective Andre Russell.
“I didn’t have something for lunch, I simply had a banana. There was a little bit strain. I wasn’t feeling hungry,” mentioned Kumar.
“However nonetheless, I performed nicely, so it’s good.
“[Captain] Hardik Pandya mentioned that because it’s your debut match, get pleasure from your self. Simply hold bowling the way in which you have got been,” he added.
Pandya mentioned the credit score for his bowler’s spectacular debut ought to go to the intensive Mumbai scouting community.
“We thought Ashwani can are available on this pitch and bowl the way in which he bowled. It’s all the scouts – they picked him,” mentioned Pandya.
“They’ve gone to all of the locations and picked these younger children. We performed a follow recreation, he had that zip, that late swing, one thing off the wicket, a special motion and he was a leftie.”
Following Kumar’s exploits with the ball, South African wicketkeeper-batsman Ryan Rickelton spearheaded Mumbai’s run chase at Wankhede Stadium, scoring a fast 62 off 41 balls in an innings laced with 5 sixes.
T20 specialist Suryakumar Yadav’s quickfire 27 off simply 9 balls ensured Mumbai sealed the win over Kolkata of their first house IPL match of the 12 months.
