MUMBAI: A sparkling debut performance by medium pacer Ashwani Kumar helped IPL powerhouses Mumbai Indians register their first win of the season on Monday, downing Kolkata Knight Riders by eight wickets.
Kumar’s 4-24 — and an overall disciplined bowling performance — restricted champions Kolkata to a modest total of 116, which Mumbai chased down with more than seven overs to spare.
“We thought Ashwani can come in on this pitch and bowl the way he bowled. It is all the scouts — they picked him,” said Mumbai skipper Hardik Pandya.
“They have gone to all the places and picked these young kids. We played a practice game, he had that zip, that late swing, something off the wicket, a different action and he was a leftie.”
South African wicketkeeper-batsman Ryan Rickelton spearheaded Mumbai’s chase, scoring a busy 62 off 41 balls, an innings laced with five sixes.
Playing their first home match of the year, Mumbai dominated from the word go with New Zealand pacer Trent Boult claiming opener Sunil Narine’s stumps in the very first over of the match.
Narine’s in-form batting partner Quinton de Kock was next to go, out caught trying to loft Deepak Chahar.
Captain Ajinkya Rahane followed soon after, slicing a wide and full ball from Kumar to the deep backward point fielder after scoring 11 off seven deliveries.
Aggressive middle-order batter Venkatesh Iyer struggled to get off the blocks, falling for three from nine balls.
The left-handed Angkrish Raghuvanshi batted fluently for his 26 runs but failed to carry on, leaving the visitors reeling at 45-5 in seven overs.
Despite some resistance by impact substitute Manish Pandey (19 off 14) and the attacking Rinku Singh (17 off 14), Kolkata never recovered.
A late flurry by Ramandeep Singh (22 off 12) helped Kolkata reach the three-figure mark but it was too little too late, with the innings folding in the 17th over.
“Collective batting failure, it was a good wicket to bat on and 180-190 would have been a good total on this pitch,” said Kolkata skipper Ajinkya Rahane.
In contrast, Mumbai got off to a brisk start but India batter Rohit Sharma missed out once again, managing only 13 off 12 balls.
England all-rounder Will Jacks, who came in to replace Sharma, pulled his second ball over fine leg for a six, extinguishing any hopes of a Kolkata comeback.
Jacks (16 off 17) and Rickelton put together a partnership of 45 runs to take Mumbai closer to the target.
T20 specialist Suryakumar Yadav’s quickfire 27 off just nine balls ensured Mumbai crossed the line without further hiccups.
Swing king Ashwani Kumar powers Mumbai Indians to first IPL win of season
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Swing king Ashwani Kumar powers Mumbai Indians to first IPL win of season
- Kumar’s 4-24 — and an overall disciplined bowling performance — restricted champions Kolkata to a modest total of 116
Australia depth shows up England’s Ashes ‘failures’
SYDNEY: A well-drilled Australia are on the cusp of retaining the Ashes after just six days of cricket — not bad for a team lambasted by England great Stuart Broad before the series began as its weakest since 2010.
The hosts take a 2-0 lead into the third Test at Adelaide on December 17 needing only a draw to keep the famous urn and pile more humiliation on Ben Stokes’s tourists.
Australia have put themselves on the brink despite missing injured pace spearheads Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood, with the performances of stand-ins Michael Neser and Brendan Doggett a reflection of their depth.
“The great and the healthiest thing for Australian cricket right now is that they’ve got almost a second XI or an Australia ‘A’ side that could come in and play some outstanding cricket too,” said former Australia Test quick Brett Lee.
“The guys who have had their opportunity, the Doggetts and the Nesers, have stood up. They’ve taken their opportunity and taken it with both hands, which is brilliant.”
The strength of the country’s talent pool was driven home by Australia ‘A’ crushing England’s second-tier side by an innings and 127 runs at Allan Border Field while Stokes’s men were being thrashed down the road in the second Test at the Gabba.
Young prospects Fergus O’Neill, Cooper Connolly and Campbell Kellaway stood out, while discarded Test batsman Nathan McSweeney fired a double-century reminder to selectors.
It is a far cry from the pre-Ashes war-of-words where England were hyped as having their best chance in a generation to win a series in Australia, with seamer Broad’s comments coming back to haunt him.
“It’s probably the worst Australian team since 2010 when England last won and it’s the best English team since 2010,” said Broad, who retired in 2023 and is now working as a pundit.
“It’s actually not an opinion, it’s fact.”
At the time, he pointed to questions over the make-up of Australia’s batting line-up and a perceived lack of bowling depth.
Both have been blown out of the water.
On the go
Australia went into the first Test in Perth dogged by uncertainty, with the uncapped Jake Weatherald as Usman Khawaja’s sixth opening partner since David Warner retired nearly two years ago.
In a quirk of fate, Khawaja was unable to bat in the first innings because of back spasms with Marnus Labuschagne replacing him.
But it was when he pulled out again in the second innings and Travis Head stepped up that the tide turned on England with his stunning 69-ball match-winning century.
“Ever since Travis Head stuck his hand up to open when Khawaja got hurt in Perth, Australia have looked like a different team,” said Australian legend Glenn McGrath.
Labuschagne said Head and Weatherald’s confidence trickled down to the lower order in Brisbane, where himself, Steve Smith and Alex Carey all blasted quick-fire half centuries.
It leaves selectors with a dilemma for the third Test: recall now-fit 85-Test veteran Khawaja or persist with Weatherald and Head, whose home ground is Adelaide.
Smith, who stood in for Cummins as skipper in the first two Tests, attributed Australia’s success so far to being able to adapt “in real time.”
“We play ‘live’. We adapt on the go, instead of getting back in the sheds and going, ‘We should have done this’,” he said.
“Sometimes it’s just playing the long game. I think we’ve just adapted so well the last couple of years, and played in real time, I suppose.”
For former Australia captain Greg Chappell, Australia’s success has been as much about England’s failures.
While their aggressive “Bazball” approach might be suited to flat English pitches and small grounds, it has been brutally exposed by the bigger boundaries and demanding conditions in Australia.
“The failure that has ensued across the first two Tests is a whole-of-system one, a catastrophic breakdown of both the game plan and its execution,” he wrote in a column.
“While the players have been the immediate culprits, the off-field leaders — Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes — are equally responsible for not recognizing the different challenges presented by Test cricket in Australia.”
