KKR surrenders to Mumbai after being restricted to season’s low total of 116; MI’s Ashwani debuts with a 4-wicket haul
The 23-year-old Ashwani from Punjab became the first Indian ever to take four wickets on IPL debut
Mumbai: Ashwani Kumar’s record four-wicket haul on IPL debut and Ryan Rickelton’s 62 not out powered Mumbai Indians to a commanding eight-wicket win over Kolkata Knight Riders here on Monday.
The 23-year-old Ashwani from Punjab’s Jhanjeri became the first Indian ever to take four wickets on IPL debut as he ended with figures of 3-0-24-4 to blow away KKR’s star-studded batting lineup.
With only four senior T20 matches in his kitty apart from four List A games and two Ranji Trophy matches, Ashwani’s rich returns heralded the domination shown by MI’s seamers.
Deepak Chahar (2/19), Trent Boult (1/23) and Hardik Pandya (1/10) ensured a collective bowling performance as KKR crumbled for the lowest total of this season, rolling over for just 116 in 16.2 overs.
Even as Rohit Sharma (13) endured another forgettable outing, Ryan Rickelton (62 not out off 41 balls, 4x4s, 5x6s) made his first impact on the IPL stage as Mumbai Indians went over the line with 7.1 overs to spare.
Suryakumar Yadav hit a quick 9-ball 27 not out and ended the game with a six behind the wicket.
The left-handed South African Rickelton survived initial challenges from KKR pacers to fight back with a flurry of boundaries for his maiden half-century in the competition and helping his side record their first win of the season.
Left-arm seamer Ashwani accounted for Ajinkya Rahane (11), Rinku Singh (17), impact sub Manish Pandey (17) and Andre Russell (5) to break the Knight Riders’ back after Chahar and Boult made early inroads in the powerplay.
KKR had a forgettable start when their openers Quinton de Kock (1) and Sunil Narine (0) fell inside the first two overs and by the end of the powerplay, the visitors had limped to 41 for four.
Boult outsmarted Narine with a fuller one which swung away to clean him up in the first over.
In the next over, Chahar had de Kock caught at mid-off with Ashwani timing his jump perfectly to complete a sharp grab.
Rahane hit a six and a four to counterattack but perished soon after for Ashwani’s maiden wicket on his first ball.
The Punjab seamer lured Rahane outside the off and KKR skipper obliged, albeit hitting in the air with the ball flying to deep backward point to Tilak Varma, who showed quick reflexes to complete the catch after the ball popped out.
Angkrish Raghuvanshi (26) looked the most promising when he began with a couple of attractive fours on both sides of the wicket and also hit Ashwani into the stands for one of the few sixes which KKR hit.
But Raghuvanshi was also guilty of throwing it away when he hit one short ball meekly off Hardik Pandya (1/10) and Naman Dhir did a fine job running from deep square leg to take the catch.
Pandey, pressed into service as an impact sub with KKR reeling at 45 for five, could not make the opportunity count and was cleaned up by Ashwani in the 11th over.
Dhir was in action again when Rinku danced down the track to smash a short ball from Ashwani two balls later but was caught at deep point and the MI fielder also took a fine diving catch in front of him at deep midwicket to dismiss Harshit Rana and help Vignesh Puthur add one wicket to his tally.
