Mumbai Indians vs Kolkata Knight Riders: Ashwani Kumar, another rising star of Indian cricket, scouted by Mumbai Indians, took 4 wickets against Kolkata Knight Riders at Wankhede Stadium on the evening of March 31. The young seamer claimed his very first IPL wicket on his debut ball for MI. 

Read More: https://www.cricketwinner.com/cricket-news/first-indian-to-take-4-wickets-on-ipl-debut-ashwin-kumar-makes-history/

First ball, first wicket for Mumbai Indians; history had been written when Kumar dismissed KKR skipper Ajinkya Rahane. Along with Rahane, Rinku Singh, Manish Pandey, and Andre Russell fall prey to the 23-year-old left-arm medium pacer. Crowds at the Wankhede stadium were on their feet when he completely fooled Russell to hit the stumps. A historic evening for Ashwani Kumar, a historic night for the Indian Premier League. 

But it was not the first time that a Mumbai Indians bowler cleared a batter on their debut match. According to the stats, before Kumar, there were 2 more MI bowlers who did wonders before. Kumar became the third bowler for the Mumbai Indians to take a wicket on IPL debut. Ali Murtaza and Alzarri Joseph bagged a wicket on their very first IPL delivery. 

Back in 2019, Alzarri Joseph had a fairytale beginning for the Mumbai Indians in his IPL career. He delivered a maiden and dismissed David Warner in his debut over. Ali Murtuza was the first MI bowler to achieve this all-time record. He dismissed Naman Ojha from Rajasthan Royals in his first IPL ball back in 2010. 

Indian captain and five-time IPL-winning Mumbai Indians captain Rohit Sharma is an emotion, and Mumbai knows it really well about the home boy, who returned during the 12th match of the IPL 2025, where Mumbai Indians hosted the defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. Before the match, the venue welcomed the home boy in a grand way.

Under the leadership of Rohit Sharma, India have recorded 18 wins in the last 19 matches in the ICC tournaments. Last year, he led India to win the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2024 by winning all the matches in the tournament. In less than a year, early this March, Rohit-led India won the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 by winning all the matches of the competition. Since the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup 2023, India have lost only one match in the ICC tournaments, and it was the Final of the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup 2023. 

See Also: IPL 2025: Most wickets in the first over in IPL history

INDIA KA RAJA ROHIT SHARMA

The Mumbai Indians vs Kolkata Knight Riders match was the first game for Rohit Sharma after winning the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 title. Fans were really excited to see the Indian captain in Mumbai, as the Wankhede Stadium set up a grand welcome for Rohit, using the chant "India ka raja Rohit Sharma".

Scene from today, wankhede chants “INDIA KA RAJA ROHIT SHARMA” after winning two successive icc trophies within 9 months. #RohitSharma𓃵 pic.twitter.com/x7FE0xAVzV

— Mr.Rishu (@ImRishu_) March 31, 2025

IPL 2025: Mumbai Indians record first win

It was the first home match for MI in the IPL 2025, while they lost their first two matches of the tournament. However, Hardik Pandya-led MI performed strongly and bundled out KKR for 116 runs, while the hosts chased down the target in 12.5 overs after losing only two wickets. 

IPL debutant Ashwani Kumar recorded a four-fer as the MI left-arm pacer had the bowling figures of 3-0-24-4 in the match against KKR. Although the impact sub Rohit Sharma (13 off 12 balls) didn't shine with the bat, hosts comfortably earned their first point in the tournament. 

Mumbai Indians IPL 2025: Winning a trophy without Jasprit Bumrah is difficult, not impossible, as Team India has proved. Mumbai Indians bowling department, lacking right rhythm, can take a lesson from the Champions Trophy 2025-winning Team India, coached by Gautam Gambhir and led by skipper Rohit Sharma.

Read More: IPL 2025: Mitchell Starc Creates History With Speedy 200 T20 Wickets

In this prestigious ICC event, the Men in Blue Brigade, deprived of the service of Jasprit Bumrah, managed to rope in a bunch of bowlers, who performed as a unit. The credit for conquering the CT 2025 should go to Gautam Gambhir and the management. Team India mostly relies on Mohammed Shami (veteran pacer), Hardik Pandya (all-rounder), Varun Chakravarthy (spinner and the x-factor), Kuldeep Yadav (experienced spinner), Axar Patel (spinner and all-rounder), Ravindra Jadeja (spinner and all-rounder), and Harshit Rana (pacer) during the Champions Trophy 2025—an all-rounder-heavy bowling combination.

Mumbai Indians also can try this method to defeat the Kolkata Knight Riders and to regain their glory. Mumbai Indians have all the elements in their squad they need to build a solid foundation without Bumrah. Trent Boult and experienced pacer bowler Deepak Chahar, underrated all-rounder Mitchell Santner, experienced spinner, and Vignesh Puthur can play as an x-factor for this season and the skipper and all-rounder Hardik Pandya—these 5 can play key roles as long as Bumrah remains out of the field. The only thing Pandya can do is pick up the right bowlers at the right moment.

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has issued a legal notice to South African cricketer Corbin Bosch after he withdrew from the Pakistan Super League (PSL) to play for the Mumbai Indians as an additional player in the Indian Premier League (IPL). The schedules of the PSL and IPL are overlapping for the first time, causing unexpected conflicts regarding player availability.

Bosch's PSL Commitment and IPL Move

Bosch was picked up by Peshawar Zalmi in the Diamond category of the PSL 2025 Players Draft, which took place in Lahore on January 13. But just a few days ago, he was named in the Mumbai Indians squad as an injury replacement for Lizaad Williams.

Responding to this, the PCB sent a legal notice to Bosch by his agent, requesting him to clarify his PSL withdrawal. The board has also outlined what would happen in case of his contract breach and is awaiting a response within a fixed timeframe.

ALSO SEE: MS Dhoni Talks About His Most Controversial IPL Moment: That Was a Big Mistake

PSL and IPL Clash for the First Time

Ever since its inception in 2016, the PSL has been played during February-March. But because of Pakistan's international games and Champions Trophy 2025, the tournament was forced to be realigned in April-May, clashing with the IPL for the very first time.

Due to this shift in scheduling, many foreign players who remained unsold in the IPL auction signed up with PSL franchises later on. Bosch was among them, but his decision to quit the league at the last minute has now created a controversy.

What's Next?

Bosch's reaction to the legal notice will be pivotal in deciding the PCB's course of action. His case could also serve as a precedent for future conflicts between leagues, since both tournaments battle for the best international players.

The question that this situation brings to mind is this: Should players respect their PSL contracts, or should they be allowed to change leagues if a better option presents itself?

MI Players in Action at DY Patil Tournament
Some of the Mumbai Indians players are playing for the Reliance side at the tournament, including:

• Tilak Varma
• KL Shrijith
• Robin Minz
• Naman Dhir
• Raj Angad Bawa
• Deepak Chahar
• Karan Sharma
• Vignesh Puthur
• S Raju
• Aswani Kumar

The DY Patil Tournament has always been an important platform for players headed to the IPL to hone their skills before the season. With a combination of big names and young guns, MI is keeping their team match-fit.

Mumbai Indians has started the preparation for IPL 2025 🔵

- Tilak Varma, KL Shrijith, Robin Minz, Naman Dhir, Raj Angad Bawa, Deepak Chahar, Karan Sharma, Vignesh Puthur, S Raju, Aswani Kumar are playing for Reliance in DY Patil Tournament.

Lasith Malinga is along with the… pic.twitter.com/oTqBC4H9b7

— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) February 25, 2025

ALSO SEE: BCCI's Plan to Keep Indian Players Engaged with Red-Ball Cricket During IPL 2025

Lasith Malinga Joins the Preparations
Tough fast bowler Lasith Malinga, the bowling coach of Mumbai Indians, is keeping a close eye on the players. His presence is a godsend, especially for the young fast bowlers who want to make their mark in IPL 2025.
Full Swing Preparations for the Title
Five-time IPL winners Mumbai Indians are leaving nothing to chance to win their sixth trophy. While their core group of players are actively taking part in the DY Patil Tournament, there are also lessons from experienced mentors like Malinga. The MI preparations are full steam ahead.
With IPL 2025 coming on March 22, Mumbai Indians' pre-mature commencement of preparations indicates their determination to rule the forthcoming season. Followers will be interested in knowing the way this groundwork will be utilized in performances after the tournament's commencement.

Team India continues to dominate the ICC Champions Trophy as they have won against Pakistan by 6 wickets in the Group Stage game at the Dubai International Stadium. The Men in Blue's professional performance with the bat and ball proved to be decisive for the team as they effectively kept Pakistan at bay. Despite skipper Rohit Sharma's loss and the in-form batsman Shubman Gill, the Virat Kohli-Shreyas Iyer combination went soaring past the opposition as India earned their second Champions Trophy victory.

Fans dancing and celebrating Virat Kohli's Hundred & Team India's Win against Pakistan in Mumbai. 🔥🇮🇳 (ANI).pic.twitter.com/Hxg0VCq43Y

— Tanuj Singh (@ImTanujSingh) February 23, 2025

ALSO SEE: Virat Kohli's 51st ODI Century Leads India to Victory Against Pakistan in ICC Champions Trophy 2025

Virat Kohli's masterclass against Pakistan showed no signs of slowing down as the star batsman smacked his 51st ODI century and closed the game out with a Team India win. With the aggressive knocks by Shubman Gill and Shreyas Iyer, Team India chased the subpar total of 241 designed by Pakistan. Skipper Rohit Sharma and all-rounder Hardik Pandya also made brief cameo appearances and had some big hitting before being given out. The PAK bowling attack was able to scalp wickets but the damage was already caused by Virat.

Suryakumar Yadav, is ready to appear in the Ranji Trophy 2025 quarter-final match against Haryana.He will be the one to give Mumbai the necessary aggressive batting needed to set the tone for the innings.

On other side Shivam Dube's performance will come in Mumbai plays at upcoming quarter-final match against Haryana. 

Mumbai Road to quarter-finals

Mumbai have qualified for the quarter-finals by completing the league stage second in their group, and a match lost  to Jammu and Kashmir. Dominating performances in the league stage, with a much  win against Meghalaya, secured Mumbai a spot in the knockouts. Yadav and Dube are expected to help Mumbai to win its 42nd Ranji Trophy title.

ALSO SEE:  Where to Watch WPL 2025 Live: TV and Streaming Details

Match Details:

• Fixture: Mumbai vs Haryana – Ranji Trophy Quarter-Final
• Date: February 8, 2025
• Venue: Eden Gardens , Kolkata, West Bengal
• Time: 9:30 AM IST

Suryakumar Yadav preparing for the Ranji Quarters. 🌟 pic.twitter.com/XEue2UMeh7

— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) February 7, 2025

Live Stream and Telecast:

• TV: Watch live on Sports18.
• Online: Free streaming on JioCinema (app & website).
• International: Can be watch in sports channels like Willow TV (USA), Sky Sports (UK), Fox Sports (Australia).
• Updates: Follow BCCI’s social media for live scores and highlights.

Exceptation from the match:

Lahli pitch is known to help the bowler mainly pacer. Mumbai strong batsmen, including Yadav, Dube, and skipper Ajinkya Rahane, would take  Haryana's bowling attack. For Haryana, facing the match would like to win and entry the semi-finals.

It's going to be a highly charged knockout pressure situation, with players returning, which promises this quarter-final to be an exciting contest.

T20 Mumbai League Returns: Third Edition Scheduled After IPL 2025

The Mumbai Cricket Association said certainly to bringing back the T20 Mumbai League. All the Players who enjoy playing cricket in Mumbai are extremely happy. After the major IPL games finish on May 25, our own Mumbai games will start on May 26 or 27 and run until June 5. What's confusing is that all of this was decided at a really fast meeting on a Friday by the major chiefs of the Mumbai Cricket Association.

They were ready to begin that, even though it's going to happen right after those important IPL games. The best part is, they want to demonstrate all the young cricketers in Mumbai, so they'll make the T20 League happen no matter what. Abhay Hadap, who helps lead, is like, we're going to make this work for our cricket Players. And they must speak to the BCCI, which is somewhat like the cricket chiefs, to get the green light from them.

A good news for all the Mumbai Cricket fans

MCA will be once again starting the T20 Mumbai League (3rd edition) after the completion of IPL 2025.

The tournament will be from May 26/27 to June 5

Looking forward to it ❤️🙏

— Vinesh Prabhu (@vlp1994) January 29, 2025

ALSO READ: Steve Smith’s Special Moment: Becomes Second Fastest Aussie to 10,000 Test Runs

Those games are going to be amazing because they'll let a large amount of local players blew the ball and swing the bat in eight different teams. It's vitally key they try their best so they can get picked, someday, for very, very big IPL teams, or even the largest the India team!,And in the first ever T20 Mumbai League, the Triumph Knights were the champions. That was significantly in 2018. People really enjoyed watching the league then, but they haven't played in a while. That's why this news makes cricket lovers in Mumbai move up and down a lot! The T20 Mumbai League is coming back and everyone is very happy because it's going to help local cricket players get noticed for larger games.

A lot of famous players come from there. To show how amazing they are at cricket, the city has a new idea. They're making an exceptionally wonderful cricket museum, with the brilliant centerpiece of demonstrating all the interesting parts about Mumbai's cricket and the players that made the city so good at the game. 

The Ranji Trophy is going on and the Mumbai vs Jammu & Kashmir match taking place in Mumbai. 

Meanwhile, Indian Captain Rohit Sharma playing domestic for Mumbai, today is 3rd day of the match between Mumbai and J&K.

Jammu and Kashmir need 205 runs to win the match and Mumbai has to defend this and the team Mumbai is being led by Indian player Ajinkya Rahane.

Also Read: Noman Ali scripts history in Multan, becomes the first Pakistani spinner to claim a Test hattrick

However, before the match started, Rohit Sharma was seen giving a preparation talk to the Mumbai team.

Here’s the video:

Rohit Sharma giving Pep Talk to Mumbai team ahead of defending 205 runs at BKC. 👌

pic.twitter.com/FEmRJduafX

— Rohan💫 (@rohann__18) January 25, 2025

This video showed his leadership skills and the responsibility of the senior player as he is also the captain of the Indian team. 

Now, his fans over the twitter, spreading this video and showing his skills and support towards the team.

Meanwhile, the match condition is not in favor of Mumbai as J&K has already scored 72 runs.

If we talk about the condition of this match, Mumbai batted first and scored 120 runs, followed by J&K scoring 206 runs before getting all out. After that, Mumbai scored 290 runs, and now J&K is at 78-1, needing 127 more runs to win.

The Ranji Trophy match is going on, that is on 23rd January the match between Mumbai and Jammu & Kashmir is taking place in Mumbai.

Indian captain Rohit Sharma and opener Yashasvi Jaiswal also participated in this match.

There were questions regarding Rohit Sharma's test form, which led BCCI to decide that all Indians would play domestic cricket.

Keeping all these things in mind, Rohit Sharma entered the domestic circuit and played his first match against Jammu & Kashmir.

But Rohit Sharma could not give a good start, he was out for only 3 runs in 19 balls.

Watch the Video of Rohit Sharma's Dismissal:

Our selfless captain sacrificed his wicket for this youngster so that he can get a chance in his career to play for indian cricket team.
Rohit Sharma✨🤞 pic.twitter.com/xIyAUz2r2R

— Humza Sheikh (@Sheikhhumza49) January 23, 2025

After Rohit's dismissal, some of his fans were angry, some fans also supported him that he would make a comeback.

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Rohit Sharma is preparing for Champions Trophy 2025 by playing in Ranji Trophy but his first match did not go much and he could score only 3 runs.

But people believe that Rohit will make a comeback in the Champions Trophy 2025 because it has been seen that no matter how bad Rohit's form is, his performance in the ICC tournament has been amazing.