On Wednesday, Akash Madhwal led Mumbai Indians to a stunning 81-run victory against Lucknow Super Giants in the second IPL playoff game, knocking Lucknow Super Giants out of the competition. Mumbai Indians won by a score of 81 runs. Madhwal claimed five wickets for as many runs.
In the next play-off clash, which will take place on Friday in Ahmedabad, Mumbai will face the holders and regular season table-toppers Gujarat Titans. Madhwal had figures of 5-5 in 3.3 overs to dismiss Lucknow for 101, which enabled Mumbai to secure a meeting with Gujarat Titans.
Rohit Sharma, the captain of the Mumbai Indians (MI), showered Madhwal with admiration and stated that he had complete trust in Madhwal’s abilities.
After getting the opening wicket by getting rid of Prerak Mankad in the first over of his bowling spell, Madhwal turned the game around by getting rid of Ayush Badoni and Nicholas Pooran in consecutive deliveries.
This gave Mumbai the opportunity to advance to the second qualifying round. After that, he would dismiss Ravi Bishnoi and Mohsin Khan, making him the first bowler in the history of the Indian Premier League to get a five-for in the playoffs.
“Over the course of many years, it has been our practice. At the post-game presentation ceremony, a satisfied Rohit remarked, “People don’t expect us to do what we have done, but we managed to.”
“He (Akash) was a part of the team last year as a support bowler, and once Jofra (Archer) was gone, and I knew he had the skills and the character to do the job for us,” the Mumbai skipper continued. “He (Akash) was a part of the team last year as a support bowler.”
Madhwal is an engineer by trade, and he learnt how to play the game while playing tennis-ball cricket in the state of Uttarakhand, which is located in northern India. Currently, Madhwal is substituting for Mumbai’s injured pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah.
During the post-match presentation, Madhwal made some humorous remarks on how he managed to practice his skills while still pursuing a degree in engineering.
“I had been practicing, and I was just waiting for this chance to come up.” I earned a degree in engineering while also pursuing my lifelong interest of playing tennis-ball cricket. He made the observation that “engineers have a propensity to learn quickly.”
“All I do is practice, and that is exactly what we put into action. “Although I have a lot of pride in myself, I will work to improve,” Madhwal continued.
The 29-year-old was also quick to dismiss parallels to India and MI speed spearhead Jasprit Bumrah, who has been out since September of last year due to a back injury. Bumrah has been out of action since September of last year.
“Bumrah bhai (brother) has his own place, and I’m just trying to play the role assigned to me,” stated Madhwal, who was 29 years old at the time.