"If I had been there, I would have given him 1 more over" - Harbhajan Singh lauds Ashwani Kumar's spell in MI's IPL 2025 win vs KKR
Former India spinner Harbhajan Singh has lauded Ashwani Kumar for bowling a potent spell in the Mumbai Indians' (MI) IPL 2025 win against the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR). The former MI player noted that he would have given the debutant a fourth over had he been the captain.
Ashwani registered figures of 4/24 in three overs as MI bowled KKR out for 116 in Match 12 of IPL 2025 in Mumbai on Monday, March 31. The home team then achieved the target with eight wickets and 43 deliveries to spare to register their first win in the ongoing edition of the Indian Premier League.
Reviewing the game on Star Sports, Harbhajan noted that luck favored Ashwani and opined that the left-arm seamer might have taken a five-wicket haul on debut had he been given another over.
"Luck was with him today. It was his day. It was written that he would play the match and win the Player of the Match award because when do you see someone bowling his first ball of his IPL career, that too when he got an opportunity to play for such a big team, and picking up a wicket," he said.
"It was a good day for him. If I had been there, I would have given him one more over. He wouldn't have taken four, but five wickets. We had asked for four wickets in the first six overs, and we got those four. We had asked for five wickets for him also, but he didn't get another over, or else he would have taken five wickets," Harbhajan added.
Ashwani Kumar dismissed Andre Russell in his third over, the 13th over of KKR's innings. However, Hardik Pandya removed him from the attack after that, with Vignesh Puthur and Mitchell Santner picking up the remaining two wickets.
"He showed his mettle" - Harbhajan Singh on Ashwani Kumar dismissing 4 formidable batters in MI's IPL 2025 win vs KKR
![Ashwani Kumar dismissed Ajinkya Rahane with his first IPL delivery. [P/C: iplt20.com]](https://statico.sportskeeda.com/editor/2025/04/96558-17434873474882-1920.jpg?w=500)
In the same discussion, Harbhajan Singh pointed out that Ashwani Kumar dismissed four frontline batters in Monday's game.
"He got the wicket of Rahane, a dependable batter who you would want to get out. If you dismiss batters like Rahane and Rinku (Singh), your confidence goes sky-high. The ball he bowled to Manish Pandey, it pitched on the seam and came in. Then he dismissed Russell. He showed his mettle, that the guy has the might," he said.
While acknowledging that Ashwani was found slightly wanting in the field, the cricketer-turned-commentator added that the youngster deserves full marks for his bowling.
"There is a lot of pressure on you when you are playing your first match. It's not that easy for a fast bowler to bowl at the Wankhede, but when you get a wicket off the first ball, the nerves get settled a lot. He did drop one or two catches, but 10 out of 10 marks for his bowling," Harbhajan observed.
Ashwani Kumar had Ajinkya Rahane caught by Tilak Varma at square third man with his first delivery. He then had Rinku Singh caught by Naman Dhir at a similar position before castling Manish Pandey and Andre Russell with fantastic deliveries that beat them all ends up.