Akash Madhwal was the star for Mumbai Indians in their stunning 81-run win over Lucknow Super Giants in the Eliminator clash of IPL 2023. He returned with the magical figures of 5/5 in the game that led to LSG getting bundled out for just 101 runs in the pursuit of 183 runs. The young pacer has now picked 13 wickets in just 8 matches and to be more precise, has accounted for nine scalps in last two games stepping up just in time for the five-time champions.
Not many were aware of Akash Madhwal before his heroics for MI this season. So here are some of the facts that you should know about him:
1. Akash Madhwal is from Uttarakhand and became the first player from the state to play in the Indian Premier League.
2. Madhwal has studied Engineering.
3. Madhwal has played 10 FC, 17 List-A and 29 T20 matches so far in his career.
4. The 29-year-old has an interesting connection with Rishabh Pant who also hails from Uttarakhand, Madhwal trained under Avtar Singh during the early years of his career. Avtar was also Pant's coach before he made a move to Delhi.
5. Madhwal was part of RCB camp as net bowler in IPL 2022 before he was picked up by MI as replacement for Suryakumar Yadav in IPL 2022.
6. Akash Madhwal is also Uttarakhand's captain in white-ball cricket.
Mumbai Indians skipper Rohit Sharma was all praise of Akash Madhwal after he delivered a terrific spell against LSG in the knockout match. Rohit was also delighted that the team stepped up in crunch times during this season and took the team into the playoffs. "That is what we have done over the years. People don't expect us to do what we have done, but we managed to. He (Akash) was the part of the team last year as a support bowler, and once Jofra was gone and I knew he had skills and the character to do the job for us.
"Over the years we have seen many guys coming in from Mumbai Indians and playing for India. It is important to make them (youngsters) feel special and make them feel part of the team, my job is to just make them comfortable in the middle. They are very clear in their roles about what they need to do for the team and that's what you want. As a team we enjoyed it (fielding). Good to see everyone contributing on the field. Coming to Chennai, we knew whole team needs to come to the party. At Wankhede you need one or two brilliant performances, but here it is a different ball game," he said.
