From borrowing Rs30 for shared auto to earning Rs3 million in IPL, Mumbai Indian's pacer Ashwani Kumar has come a long way

Dubai: Mumbai Indians were desperate for a win in Indian Premier League 2025 after having lost their first two matches.

They achieved that in style defeating defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders by a massive eight wickets in a low scoring match on Monday.

The architect was Ashwani Kumar who made an impressive debut claiming four crucial wickets.

The 23-year-old's performance earned him the Player of the Match award.

But the road to success wasn't an easy one for the young seamer who hails from a small village Jhanjheri in Mohali.

Despite facing lot of hardships during his growing days, the youngster was determined to make it big in cricket.

"I remember he would take Rs30 from me for the fare, and when he was picked up for Rs3 million by Mumbai Indians in the mega auction, I knew his worth was every penny," his father Harkesh Kumar told Indian Express.

"Rain or hot sun, Ashwani would never hesitate to go to PCA at Mohali or later at the new stadium at Mullanpur. Sometimes, he would cycle to PCA academy or take lifts or would go in shared autos.

"After each wicket today, I would think about those days when he would return at 10pm after his training and again wake up the next day at 5am to head hack," his father added.

Ashwani made his Ranji debut for Punjab in 2019 after playing at the PCA Academy during his initial cricketing years.

“Ashwani would tell me and other youth of the village to reach early in the morning at the school ground no matter what and most of us would bat against him at the school ground,” his elder brother Shiv Rana said. “Sometimes, he would go to other cricket grounds near the village to play for local teams and would again call us in the evening to play. He would bowl pace wearing normal canvas shoes and friends like Chahat Rana, who is now in Italy, and others would support him with cricket balls and spikes. His passion was to play cricket and make us proud and today he has done that for all of us.”

Ashwani even had a few unsuccessful trials at Chennai Super Kings, Kolkata Knight Riders and Rajasthan Royals.

"He attended trials for IPL sides but he always wanted to be like Jasprit Bumrah and Mitchell Starc. His friends would pool money to get him cricket balls and when he was picked up by Mumbai Indians for Rs3 million, the first thing he did was to get cricket kits and balls distributed in the academies near our village. He always used to tell me that his favourite jersey would be able to wear a jersey that has his own name. and with today's performance, he has made sure that kids will wear his name jersey," Rana said.