Former India spinner turned commentator Harbhajan Singh has praised Ashwani Kumar for bowling a stunning spell in the Mumbai Indians’ (MI) IPL 2025 win against the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) as well. He also added that he would have given the debutant a fourth over had he been the captain of MI as well. Notably, Ashwani registered figures of 4/24 in 3 overs as MI bowled KKR out for 116 and eventually won by eight wickets and 43 balls to spare.

Reviewing the game on Star Sports, Harbhajan Singh said, “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. 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.”

ALSO READ: “In the next T20 World Cup in India, he’ll be number one bowler” – Mohammad Kaif on Varun Chakravarthy

However, Harbhajan Singh also stated that Ashwani Kumar dismissed four frontline batters as well.

“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. 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 Singh concluded.