The 23-year-old left-arm pacer Ashwani Kumar has made a dream debut in the IPL as he started his IPL career with a wicket by dismissing the Kolkata Knight Riders captain Ajinkya Rahane. 

Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai is hosting the 12th match of the IPL 2025, where the Mumbai Indians are hosting the defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders. After the hosts chose to field first, KKR had a poor start by losing both the openers in the first seven balls after scoring only one run. At the end of the powerplay, KKR scored 41/4. 

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Ashwani Kumar dismissed Ajinkya Rahane on the first ball of his IPL debut

It was the fourth over of the match, where the IPL debutant Ashwani Kumar came to bowl his first over. While the KKR skipper Ajinkya Rahane was looking that over as an opportunity after a horrible start, young left-arm pacer Kumar surprised everyone by taking an important wicket of Rahane on his first ball of his IPL career. 

It was a full and wide outside the off delivery, which Rahane went for, but his connection only found the deep backward point fielder Tilak Varma. Varma almost messed up that chance as he failed to grab that properly on the first attempt, but brilliantly picked up on the second attempt, which was a tougher chance. Skipper Rahane returned to the pavilion after scoring 11 off seven balls with one four and one six, as KKR were struggling at 25/3.

Ashwani Kumar became the 15th bowler to record a wicket on the first ball on IPL debut. Meanwhile, he became the fourth Mumbai Indians bowler to pick up a wicket on the first ball on IPL debut. Despite Angkrish Raghuvanshi hitting him a six in his first IPL over, Kumar completed his first IPL over with one wicket and conceded eight runs. 

Mumbai Indians bowler picking wickets on the first ball on IPL debut

• Ali Murtaza dismissed Naman Ojha (Rajasthan Royals) in 2010
• Alzarri Joseph dismissed David Warner (Sunrisers Hyderabad) in 2019
• Dewald Brevis dismissed Virat Kohli (Royal Challengers Bangalore) in 2022
• Ashwani Kumar dismissed Ajinkya Rahane (Kolkata Knight Riders) in 2025