IPL 2025: Gone With The Wind, Young Turk Ashwani Kumar Blows Away KKR With Four Wickets

Add as a preferred source on Google

Ashwani Kumar. If, at first, one thinks there is a typo or wrong pronunciation, and people confuse him to be R.Ashwin, pardon the ignorance. Unheard, unsung and almost unseen, 'Punjabi Puttar' Ashwani, just 23, showed swing, style and slickness as he showed up for Mumbai Indians.

On debut, the left-arm medium fast bowler, who relies more on his own body dynamics of attacking the stumps, exhibited a nice, clean action and follow-through, almost charging into the batters. It was a great sight.

Sample this, Monday (March 31) was a day of celebrations for the devout, it being Eid. As the wind wafted through the air, there was festivity and gaiety as well near the Wankhede Stadium area of south Mumbai. Located close to the sea, everyone knows the ball can swing.

Yet, for this callow youth picked up at a cheap price in the IPL auction, Ashwani Kumar came out firing. His auction price last December in Saudi Arabia was a meagre Rs 30 lakhs. For those who think the auction determines the value of a player, it's not a 100 per cent true.

Ashwani was nervous, by his own admission. Even at the mid innings break onsite interview, he was a bit lost for words. The anchor had to repeat the question. It spoke about Ashwani the boy who may have been worried how to bowl on the big stage called the Wankhede Stadium.

Yes, the atmosphere is like the old Roman amphitheatre. Like a true warrior, Ashwani bowled with a single-minded focus to attack and not worry about stage fright. He had skipped lunch in anxiety and eaten bananas for energy. Acceptable that, since fast bowlers don't eat a heavy meal before a match. The salubrious setting was ideal for Ashwani to charge in and fire the white ball.

By evening in Mumbai, near the Wankhede Stadium, the pleasant breeze had become stifling for KKR. Some bowlers use the wind to swing the bowl smartly. Ashwani may not even have thought of all that since he comes from Punjab, where there is no sea.

As a kid making his debut for Mumbai Indians. Ashwani bowled at around 135kmph or 140kmph, which is fast medium. Yet, what caught the eye of fans inside the arena, MI boss Nita Ambani included, was the rhythm which Ashwani showed on debut.

There was no hesitancy as he used the ball which comes in, to good effect. That is the natural left-arm fast bowler's ability to fire the delivery. To prise out the wickets of KKR captain Ajinkya Rahane, no stranger to the Wankhede settings, Manish Pandey, Rinku Singh and Andre Russel looks great in Ashwani's biodata, where he will add more pages.

In no time, with wickets falling so fast, KKR were 'Gone With The Wind.' This kind of spineless batting against Young Turk Ashwani was painful to watch. For lakhs of MI fans who were upset with the team's results in IPL 2025 and started heaping scorn on their team, Hardik Pandya's side bouncing back has worked well.

After all, MI fans are very important and add so much value to the team's brand, though, not in money terms. For those who know nothing about Ashwani, he is from Punjab and has done well in domestic cricket.

Most important, he has been fearless while bowling in the Sher E Punjab T20 competition. Shades of Arshdeep? Well, comparisons are not needed. Ashwani has to keep producing this kind of stuff for MI in this IPL. It will define him and his growth prospects ahead.