Ashwani Kumar, one of Mumbai Indians' new recruits, impressed on his IPL debut against Kolkata Knight Riders.
Uncapped Indian pacer Ashwani Kumar is the latest young cricketing sensation to come out of the 2025 Indian Premier League (IPL). The 23-year-old made his IPL debut in a game for Mumbai Indians (MI) against defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) at Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium on Monday.
He finished the match with impressive figures of 4/24 from three overs, helping Mumbai Indians see off Kolkata Knight Riders for 116.
Mumbai Indians had acquired Ashwani for his base price of INR 30 lakh. However, this isn’t his first experience with an IPL franchise. The Mohali-born cricketer was a net bowler for Punjab Kings during IPL 2024 but was taken by Chennai Super Kings as their net bowler during the season.
Sanjay Bangar recalls interesting story about Ashwani
Sanjay Bangar, former director of cricket development at Punjab Kings, recalled an interesting story about how the franchise came across Ashwani. “Good to see the growth that he (Ashwani Kumar) has shown. We had a camp somewhere in the month of December 2023. That was a preparatory camp, after that when we got summoned for the pre-season camp (Ahead of IPL 2024), Ashwani was taken by CSK to be their net bowler,” Bangar said during ESPNCricinfo’s Timeout show.
“We (Punjab Kings) literally had to make a lot of phone calls and get him out of the CSK camp. But, kudos to Mumbai Indians that they showed faith in him, picked him and gave him the chance. Because, it’s one thing to get impressive bowlers and it’s another thing to put them in match situation. So, well done Mumbai Indians once again,” he added.
Neitjer Punjab nor CSK bid for Ashwani at the auction as Mumbai Indians picked him up for the base price, a purchase that they were so elated with.
Mahela Jayawardene was very happy after getting Ashwani Kumar at the base price. Need to watch his video. pic.twitter.com/mAjISQZboe
While this is Ashwani’s first IPL season as a main player of a team, he has been in the domestic cricket arena for the last six years. Ashwani made his First-Class debut for Punjab in a Ranji Trophy Elite Group A match against Rajasthan. He picked up a wicket in each of the innings.
He has, however, played just two First-Class matches and has taken three wickets. Ashwani, though, produced eye-catching performances in the 2023 Sher-E-Punjab Trophy with his effective death bowling skills. Interestingly, Mumbai Indians head coach Mahela Jayawardene and his support staff were extremely happy to get Ashwani for his base price since they were very keen on getting him.
Mumbai Indians trounce KKR in IPL 2025
Coming back to Monday’s match, South Africa’s Ryan Rickelton starred with an unbeaten 62 for Mumbai Indians as they defeated Kolkata Knight Riders by eight wickets, successfully chasing down 117.
This is the Hardik Pandya-led side’s first win of the IPL 2025 season. Mumbai Indians had lost Chennai Super Kings and Gujarat Titans in their first two matches. Mumbai Indians will next take on Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in an away match on Friday (March 4).
