Ashwani Kumar’s four-wicket haul in his debut for the Mumbai Indians signaled his presence on the IPL’s great stage. In MI’s first IPL 2025 home match, the left-arm fast bowler easily defeated the Kolkata Knight Riders by eight wickets at the Wankhede Stadium.
Ashwani Kumar delivered the first over of his IPL career and dismissed Ajinkya Rahane with his first delivery. After his first dismissal Kumar proceeded to take wickets off Rinku Singh and Andre Russell and Manish Pandey before KKR settled on 116 runs.
Ashwani Kumar secured the first Indian bowler to take a four-wicket haul during his IPL debut yet how does he position on the general ranking of debutants with stellar bowling figures? Let’s find out.
1. Alzarri Joseph – 6/12 vs Hyderabad, 2019
Alzarri Joseph established his IPL career similarly to Ashwani Kumar after joining the Mumbai Indians. Joseph made his debut for Mumbai Indians in 2019 through a performance that delivered six wickets for a total of 12 runs against the Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Alzarri Joseph opened his IPL career by dismissing David Warner in his first delivery before taking out Vijay Shankar, Deepak Hooda, Rashid Khan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Siddarth Kaul to defend a 137-run total for Mumbai Indians in Hyderabad. Joseph executed 3.4 overs during which he permitted only 12 runs and finished his spell with a zero-run maiden over.
2. Andrew Tye – 5/17 vs Pune, 2017
On their IPL debut, only two bowlers have claimed five or more wickets. Andrew Tye, a former Gujarat Lion, is one among them. Tye made his IPL debut for GL in 2017, despite having previously played for the Chennai Super Kings.
Tye grabbed five wickets in his match against Rising Pune Supergiant in Pune, including a hat-trick. He returned with dream figures of 5/17 in four overs after dismissing Rahul Tripathi, Ben Stokes, Manoj Tiwary, Ankit Sharma, and Shardul Thakur.
3. Shoaib Akhtar – 4/11 vs Delhi, 2008
Since IPL’s introduction in 2008 Pakistani players have not participated in any edition of the tournament. Various Pakistani players became part of IPL history by participating in the tournament during its first 2008 season.
During his debut IPL match for Kolkata Knight Riders against Delhi in 2008 Shoaib Akhtar sent Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag as well as AB de Villiers and Manoj Tiwary back to the pavilion while his team defended their 134-run total. Shoaib Akhtar earned the Man of the Match distinction because he secured 4 wickets in 11 runs while bowling just 3 overs.
4. Ashwani Kumar – 4/24 vs Kolkata, 2025
The fourth-ranking position on this exclusive list belongs to Ashwani Kumar after he joined Mumbai Indians. In only three oversbowled during the match versus the Kolkata Knight Riders he managed to take four wickets.
During his very first Over in IPL he became only the tenth cricketer to earn a wicket when he eliminated Ajinkya Rahane with his opening delivery.
5. Kevon Cooper – 4/26 vs Punjab, 2012
The surprising inclusion to this list belongs to Kevon Cooper a former Rajasthan Royals all-rounder player. When he debuted for Rajasthan Royals in 2012 the Trinidadian knocked out four wickets versus Kings XI Punjab.
Kevon Cooper started off his IPL wicket tally by eliminating dangerous batsman Paul Valthaty from the match. Kevon Cooper assisted RR to their 31-run victory by dismissing Shaun Marsh and then Abhishek Nayar and Piyush Chawla at Sawai Man Singh Stadium.
