Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], April 1 : Former Indian cricketer Wasim Jaffer, who is also the coach for Punjab in domestic cricket, revealed how Ashwani Kumar, the pacer who made debut for Mumbai Indians (MI) with a four-wicket haul on Monday against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), left him impressed with his work ethic and skill-set.
Jaffer was speaking to Boria Majumdar on Revsportz. Ashwani's spell of 4/24 against defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in front of a packed Wankhede crowd left the visitors stunned and guided five-time champions to their first win of the season.
Speaking to Boria, Jaffer spoke about how he noticed Ashwani last year in August during district-level matches for Mohali and was impressed with his action, sill set and approach, even on pitches that did not favour fast bowlers. He also revealed that Punjab had initially picked him in 2019 and sidelined him after an injury. Jaffer reminisced how he would bowl in the nets for hours, even if he was not in probables list and hailed his "tireless" attitude.
"Well, first of all, I saw him while I was in Punjab in August. I went there and I watched a lot of district games and he was playing for Mohali. So I was impressed, you know, with his action, the way he bowled, even though the pitch was not too conducive for fast bowling. But I liked his approach, you know, the way he was running towards the stump and his strong bowling action.
And then I got to know that he is somebody who had played way back in 2019. They picked him very immaturely at that time. That is what I got to know. He got injured after playing one or two games and was then sidelined. They probably played him a bit too early, and then he should have."
"But then after that, he worked very tireless. You know, he is somebody I obviously got the opportunity to coach Punjab from September. And every time we had nets, every time we had the camp, he would be there irrespective of whether he was in the probables or not," Jaffer recalled proudly.
Jaffer appreciated Ashwani's skill-set, as someone capable of bowling close to 140 kmph, having a great bouncer and yorker.
"He is developing his slower delivery. So he has got the armory, you know, because obviously Punjab cricketers play a lot of T20 cricket around the circuit. And a lot of players, a lot of Punjab batters have high regard for him. They rate him quite decently. So we picked him," he added.
Jaffer recalled that he was picked up for Punjab and got some game time in Syed Mushtaq Ali (SMAT) and Vijay Hazare Trophy (VHT) so that he could be developed as a part of a new batch of bowlers as various bowlers like Arshdeep Singh, Gurnoor Brar and Baltej Singh etc were around.
Wasim also feels that spending time in the MI dressing room with the likes of Lasith Malinga, Jasprit Bumrah, Sachin Tendulkar, Rohit Sharma, etc would benefit Ashwani.
"If you just share the dressing room with all these people, your confidence goes sky high. You know, if you are somebody who wants to grasp the knowledge and you want to improve, there is no better place than the Mumbai dressing room. Like you said, Rohit Sharma is there. Hardik Pandya, there is Lasith Malinga, Bumrah. You know, you name them, and everybody is there. Sachin Tendulkar might come in a few times and share his insights. So, if you are somebody who wants to, you know, improve, who wants to learn, there is no better place," he concluded.