Mumbai Indians skipper Hardik Pandya lavished praise on debutant Ashwani Kumar for his 4-wicket haul against defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders at the Wankhede on Monday. Pandya revealed that he decided to go with Ashwani after witnessing him in action in a practice game where he had zip and late swing, adding that he thought the 23-year-old had a pretty different action.
“This wicket just offered a bit more and we thought Ashwani can come in and bowl the way he bowled. First of all, it’s all because of the scouts. All MI scouts have gone all the places and picked these young kids. We played a practice game and it looked like he had that zip and late swing, had a different action and plus he is a leftie. The way he took that wicket of Russell was a very crucial wicket,” Hardik said at the post-match chat.
The MI skipper also singled out the moment the youngster gobbled up the catch of Quinton de Kock off Deepak Chahar’s bowling in the second over of the match.
“And especially, how he started with that catch of Quinton. Was great to see a fast bowler jumping that high. As I mentioned earlier, it’s a great sign for everyone to chip in and kick of the tournament for us,” Pandya said.
The Punjab youngster was instrumental in breaking Kolkata’s backs when he snapped up KKR captain Ajinkya Rahane with the very first delivery he bowled. After that, he would come back to haunt the Knights again when he accounted for the wickets of Rinku Singh (17), impact sub Manish Pandey (17) and Andre Russell (5). He ended with figures of 4/24, becoming the first Indian to take four wickets in his maiden IPL outing.
Kolkata would ultimately end up skittling out for just 116 runs with Mumbai chasing it down in 12.5 overs, thanks to Ryan Rickelton’s 62 runs.
