HAPPY BIRTHDAY M ASHWIN: Tamil Nadu’s veteran leg spinner Murugan Ashwin is one of the best in the domestic circuit. Murugan hogged the limelight with his mesmerizing performances in the 2015-16 Syed Mushtaq Ali tournament, which is the premier T20 domestic competition in India. He was subsequently rewarded with a Rs 4.5 crore Indian Premier League (IPL) contract by the now-defunct Rising Pune Supergiants franchise.
Though his career did not take off as it should have, the leg spinner has produced some fabulous performances in the IPL. He currently is a part of the Mumbai Indians outfit and will be expected to do well for the Rohit Sharma-led side in the upcoming seasons.
As the leg spinner celebrates his 32nd birthday, let’s take a look at some of his top IPL performances:
2/14 for Mumbai Indians against Delhi Capitals, 2022
The second match of IPL 2022 between Delhi Capitals and Mumbai Indians was an absolute run fest with both sides scoring big runs on a belter of a pitch. Mumbai batted first and posted a total of 177 runs on the board. Chasing a stiff target, the Capitals were off to a flyer with Prithvi Shaw battering the Mumbai pacers in the powerplay.
It was Murugan Ashwin’s tight spell that put Delhi Capitals on the back foot. The leg spinner bowled a googly to dismiss Tim Seifert and then dismissed Mandeep Singh in the same over. He finished with figures of 2 for 14 but could not pull the match towards his side.
3/36 for Rising Pune Supergiants against Kings XI Punjab, 2016
In his debut season in the IPL, Murugan Ashwin bamboozled the Punjab batters when they faced Rising Pune Supergiants. The spinner broke the backbone of the Punjab batting line-up after dismissing opener Murali Vijay, the Australian Shaun Marsh, and the aggressive David Miller. Murugan finished with impressive figures of 3/36 but his valiant efforts went in vain as Punjab emerged victorious on the night by six wickets.
3/21 for Kings XI Punjab against Royal Challengers Bangalore, 2020
Murugan’s best performance in the IPL came in the Punjab jersey in 2020 at the Dubai International Stadium. Defending a solid total of 207 runs, Murugan and company kept things tight and piled up the pressure on Bangalore’s batters. Murugan then outsmarted Mr.360, AB De Villiers and cracked the tie open. He then returned to clean up the tail and scalped the wickets of Navdeep Saini and Yuzvendra Chahal to hand Punjab a thumping win on the night.
2/36 for Royal Challengers Bangalore against Kolkata Knight Riders, 2018
On the turning tracks of the Chinnaswamy stadium in Bengaluru, Murugan Ashwin was the only bowler who caused problems for the Kolkata batters. Defending a total of 175, RCB’s pacers were battered by the Kolkata openers. Skipper Virat Kohli then tossed the ball to Murugan, who was quick to respond by sending Sunil Narine and Robin Uthappa back to the pavilion.
Out of the four wickets taken by RCB, two came courtesy of Murugan’s brilliance. Kolkata chased down the target with ease as none of the RCB bowlers barring Murugan caused any trouble to the batters.
2/25 for Kings XI Punjab against Mumbai Indians, 2019
Mumbai Indians were asked to bat first by the Punjab side in the 2019 season of the IPL. On a flat track, Ravichandran Ashwin’s decision to play Murugan Ashwin in the squad paid dividends as the Tamil Nadu maestro scalped two very crucial wickets. He outwitted the in form batter Suryakumar Yadav and then got rid of the dangerous Yuvraj Singh, conceding just 25 runs in his four overs. His tremendous performance was instrumental in Punjab’s big win by 8 wickets against Mumbai.
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