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NEW DELHI: Ashwani Kumar’s sensational four-wicket haul on IPL debut and Ryan Rickelton’s unbeaten 62 powered Mumbai Indians to a dominant eight-wicket win over Kolkata Knight Riders at Wankhede Stadium on Monday.
The 23-year-old left-arm seamer from Punjab’s Jhanjeri became the first Indian to take four wickets on IPL debut, finishing with figures of 3-0-24-4 to dismantle KKR’s batting lineup.
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With just four senior T20s, four List A games, and two Ranji Trophy matches before his IPL debut, Ashwani’s performance signaled MI’s bowling dominance. Deepak Chahar (2/19), Trent Boult (1/23) and Hardik Pandya (1/10) supported him well as KKR folded for a season-low 116 in 16.2 overs.
Despite Rohit Sharma’s early dismissal for 13, Rickelton (62* off 41, 4x4s, 5x6s) anchored the chase with his maiden IPL fifty. Suryakumar Yadav’s explosive 9-ball 27*, including a six to finish, sealed MI’s first win of the season with 7.1 overs to spare.
Ashwani struck with his first ball, removing Ajinkya Rahane (11), before adding Rinku Singh (17), impact sub Manish Pandey (17) and Andre Russell (5) to his tally. Boult and Chahar had earlier removed openers Quinton de Kock (1) and Sunil Narine (0) inside two overs.
Angkrish Raghuvanshi (26) briefly resisted but perished to Pandya.
Brief Scores:
Kolkata Knight Riders: 116 all out in 16.2 overs (Angkrish Raghuvanshi 26; Ashwani Kumar 4/24).
Mumbai Indians: 121 for 2 in 12.5 overs (Ryan Rickleton 62 not out; Andre Russell 2/35).
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