New Delhi, May 31 Amidst Rohit Sharma’s 81 and Jasprit Bumrah’s 1-27 being the standout performances in Mumbai Indians’ beating Gujarat Titans’ by 20 runs in the IPL 2025 Eliminator, uncapped pacer Ashwani Kumar’s spell of 1-28 was worth its weight in gold.
With the match at knife’s edge after Jasprit Bumrah’s pin-point yorker floored Washington Sundar, Ashwani kept things by bowling two nine-run overs, before conceding only three runs in the final over to ensure MI sealed their ticket to Qualifier 2 in Ahmedabad on Sunday.
Head coach Mahela Jayawardene lauded Ashwini for responding brilliantly to the challenges the side has put him through in the competition so far. "We have given him simple plans so that he doesn't get confused. A lot of guys on the field help him. Booms (Bumrah), Deepak (Chahar), Hardik, all those guys have those chats. But it is all about execution and the pressure and what we have seen in him."
"I mean, this is not the first time. We use him tactically when we need to against opposition. In big games, if he can produce this, he will get more confident. What you see is not the full Ashwani. There is much more to come from him; he is a fabulously skilled bowler. We just need to keep grooming him in the right direction.”
"I think the first season itself, the way he has responded to the challenges that we put him through, he has done brilliantly. I know he hasn't played much state cricket as well but when we saw him, we saw the skill that he has," said Jayawardene at the conclusion of the game.
He added that with dew setting in the stadium during their defence of 228/5, MI opted to bowl for yorkers over length balls, as they were skidding on the pitch. “We felt that batting first against GT is the right call. We played tactically. The way we batted, the tempo was great and we put runs on the board. The early wicket of Shubman was a massive one.”
“Everything was going to plan, but halfway through, I saw the due coming in. We couldn't get our grip. Planning-wise, we changed our plans to bowl yorkers as much as we could because the length balls were skidding through. The variations were not happening. I think it was a tough last 10 overs for us, but the experienced heads held together & we executed brilliantly,” said Jayawardene.
Quizzed on MI’s mantra of winning games from tense situations, Jayawardene highlighted the creation of winning culture in the team. “When you have a winning culture, it's easier to try & have that same thing going through. We have a very experienced core group within our ranks. That winning mentality itself comes through from those senior players.”
“Players who have won trophies do help. My job is to try & cultivate the new guys who are coming into the squad. After the big auction, we had quite a few new faces. I think telling them about how we operate and having that attitude that we’ll never die from a situation always works,” he concluded.
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