Ashwani Kumar scripted history in his first-ever game for Mumbai Indians as the 23-year-old became the first Indian pacer to take four wickets on an Indian Premier League (IPL) debut. Replacing ndhra Pradesh pacer Satyanarayana Raju in the playing XI, Ashwani Kumar couldn’t had asked for a better start to his career as he dismissed Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) captain Ajinkya Rahane on his first ball.
He later went on to dismiss Rinku Singh, Andre Russell and Manish Pandey to finish with 4/24 in his three overs. Only three bowlers – Alzaari Joseph (6/12, Mumbai Indians), Andrew Tye (5/17, Gujarat Lions) and Shoaib Akhtar (4/11, Kolkata Knight Riders) – have take four or more wickets on IPL debut before Ashwani Kumar.
Notably, Ashwani Kumar has only played four senior T20 matches prior to his IPL debut, in addition to two Ranji Trophy and four List A matches. In fact, this was the firts time, ever that Ashwani Kumar has picked four wickets in a match.
His previous best was 3/37 in List A cricket and 1/19 in T20 cricket.
