India, April 1 -- Mumbai Indians skipper Hardik Pandya lauded young Ashwani Kumar for his brilliant display in his debut IPL match, in which he ran riot and claimed a four-wicket haul against Kolkata Knight Riders in Mumbai. After losing the first two matches, captain Hardik and team management made the bold call to pick rookie Ashwani in the playing XI, and the young left-handed repaid the faith by claiming a four-wicket haul.

The 23-year-old pacer got rid of KKR star batters - Ajinkya Rahane, Rinku Singh, Andre Russell and Manish Pandey as the defending champions were bundled out for 116. Mumbai didn't find much difficulty in claiming their first win of the season as they beat KKR by 8 wickets.

Hardik credited the MI scouts for findin...