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.