'May you always shine like this'- MI owner Nita Ambani lauds debutant Kumar Kartikeya post RR win

Kumar Kartikeya got his maiden IPL contract worth INR 20 lakh last week when he was named a replacement player for Mohammad Arshad Khan. Not only did he feature in the Mumbai Indians’ playing XI against the Rajasthan Royals at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai on April 30 but also fared extremely well in his debut game.

After he impressed one and all on his IPL debut, MI owner Nita Ambani lauded the spinner for his excellent performance that played an instrumental role in helping the five-time champions register their very first win of IPL 2022. This was also their first win after eight unsuccessful attempts which has led to them languishing at the bottom of the points table.

Nita Ambani congratulates Kumar Kartikeya

It was a happy Mumbai Indians dressing room after their well-deserved win over an in-form Rajasthan Royals and the team owner Nita Ambani congratulated all the star performers on a phone call including Tim David and of course Kumar Kartikeya. Giving a special mention to Kartikeya she said, “You played really well. Congratulations, and may you always shine like this.” The debutant also won the dressing room player of the match award for his brilliant show with the ball.

Kumar Kartikeya finished with figures of 1/19 from his four overs at an economy rate of 4.8. Apart from picking up the key wicket of RR skipper Sanju Samson, his economical spell also helped in restricting the Royals to a manageable total of 158/6.

In reply, Mumbai lost the wicket of captain Rohit Sharma early and Ishan Kishan was dismissed after getting set before Suryakumar Yadav (51)  and Tilak Varma’s (35) knocks kept MI’s hopes alive. In the end, Tim David added the finishing touches with a nine-ball unbeaten 20 as MI went past the finishing line by five wickets in the final over.

Talking about Kumar Kartikeya, he was first signed as a part of the Mumbai Indians’ support team and an injury to Arshad meant that they signed him as a replacement player. He does have some amount of experience under his belt having played nine first-class, 19 List A, and nine T20s respectively with 35, 18, and 10 scalps to his name.