Monday night’s Wankhede Stadium atmosphere was fantastic, but Mumbai Indians (MI) sorely needed a victory at home following two losses at the start of IPL 2025. And they discovered their match-winner in unheralded Ashwani Kumar, the 23-year-old left-arm bowler interior Punjab who recorded 4/24 on IPL debut to beat Kolkata Knight Rider (KKR) by eight wickets.
Kumar dismissed KKR skipper Ajinkya Rahane, caught at backward point, with his debut IPL delivery. After Rinku Singh was also caught off a short ball, he bowled Andre Russell and Manish Pandey. For the little Jhanjeri village in Punjab child, it was an amazing debut to IPL. His 3-0-24-4 spell won him the Player-of- the- Match trophy and compliments from skipper Hardik Pandya.
“It makes a quite nice feeling. I had not considered myself to be particularly good. Hardik bhai advised me, “You’re from Punjab and Punjabis are fearless, so just scare the opponent and enjoy yourself,” he said iplt20.com.
Kumar bowled at 135kph, 137kph and 140kph, displaying his capacity to turn up speed.
Having barely participated in a few white-ball games for Punjab in the 2024–2025 season, how then did Kumar attend MI’s star-studded camp? In Punjab’s T20 tournament, Sher-e-Punjab, his bowling prowess really shone and caught the attention of scouts from several IPL teams who saw games at the PCA Stadium in Mohali. Not only MI showed interest and contacted him for tests; CSK, PBKS, RR, and KKR all gave calls.
Nearly two years ago, he arrived at my academy needing to improve on variety, speed, line and length. He possessed belly fire in addition to innate ability. When MI bought him in the auction, he was overjoyed, told his coach Varinder Singh, who runs Launching Pad Cricket Academy in Mohali where Kumar practices alongside other IPL players like Gurnoor Brar and Ramandeep Singh.
“When MI choose him (bought for ₹30 lakh at the auction), the next day he started training harder with bowlers like Trent Boult and Jasprit Bumrah in mind.”
After outstanding success in district events, Kumar earned his Ranji Trophy debut in 2019—at a period when the state organization was actively funding quick bowlers. Still, an injury stopped him from advancing. “It was the lockdown; he had an elbow injury in the 2019–2020 season and had to miss the following one. He felt greatly let down. The lockdown complicated matters more. Said his older brother Shiv Singh Rana, a farmer who aids their father Harkesh Singh Rana in their field, H made a comeback in 2021 and his career was back on track.
Recovering from injuries, he made his one-day Vijay Hazare Trophy debut in 2021; his career was back on track. It gave him hope one day of perhaps playing for India.
“He stopped reading after Class 12. He insisted on a career in cricket when students his age were considering migrating to Canada or working on a college degree. The MI kit is his first sponsored one. He first battled to buy spikes valued ₹10,000–12,000 and never signed a deal with any sports equipment manufacturer. His brother remarked, “As he started playing in the inter-district tournament, he started getting money and he invested that in training, attire and diet.”
With little income, life had been difficult for Kumar’s family. “In our family, only he found great interest in cricket. Knowing his passion for pace bowling, our father registered him at the Mohali Cricket Association academy; it was far from our village and he would primarily cycle to it around 40km daily. On a family friend’s recommendation.
“IPL has given him a great start but he should build on from here,” his coach Varinder advised. He also recognizes the value of domestic cricket. His coach Singh has awakened the fantasy of playing for India.
Last season’s Punjab men’s team bowling coach, former Deccan Chargers and Kings XI Punjab seamer Harmeet Bansal, had Kumar in his BLV Blasters team in the Sher-e-Punjab Cup. He stands out with his kind of skill, fast pace, capacity to swing the ball both ways. He has not had many opportunities to play for Punjab with Gurnoor Brar and Arshdeep around.