Jhanjheri celebrates its son’s IPL match-winning debut

A day after Mumbai Indians pacer Ashwani Kumar played a match winning innings for his side on debut, the atmosphere at his village in Jhanjheri was ecstatic. Father Harkesh Rana, mother Meema Rani and brother Shiv Rana were busy throughout the day attending to friends and visitors.

Very cheerfully, they narrated the struggles of their son, who from a non-descript village on the outskirts of Mohali had managed to reach the hustle and bustle of Mumbai. The 23-year-old left arm pacer became the first Indian to take a four-wicket haul on his IPL debut as Mumbai Indians beat Kolkata Knight Riders on Monday night.

Here in Jhanjeri, the entrance of Ashwani’s house greets you with a dusty Alto car parked in the verandah, hiding piles of paddy straw. Inside, the distemper on the walls is peeling off at many places. The only thing glittering thing in the drawing room is younger son’s trophies lined up, with dust on them.

Today, Ashwani’s mid-size room was the most sought after thing in the house. Two cots, a table with a small music system and a few clothes hanging behind the door were the other things in the room. The striking thing was two cartons of used leather balls, a pair of gloves, pads, stretching ropes, badminton rackets and some medals hanging on the wall. The Player of the Match trophy won by him during the PCA’s Sher-e-Punjab T20 tournament was the centre of the debate with family members debating whether the 23-year-old left arm pacer had won it in 2023 or 2024.

His father makes it a point to take the journalists to the backyard where a cow and buffalo lazily sit. The compound wall has cow dung cakes stuck neatly on it.

Mother Meena Rani says she had the belief in his son’s hard work. “Surely, I knew one day he would make us proud. After 12th, he quit studies and focussed entirely on cricket. Distractions have no place in his life till now,” she says proudly.

His brother Shiv Rana said there was a time when he was troubled by tennis elbow, but former cricketers and PCA officials helped him with treatment. “He used to play in his school ground, then insisted to go to the PCA to hone his skill.”

Friend says Ashwani was the most difficult bowler in the area to play even when he was much younger than them. “At this very ground in Government Senior Secondary School, Jhanjheri, we used to play matches against Manpreet Gony, Yuvraj Singh, Dinesh Mongia and others. When alone, he would stack bricks as wickets and bowl for hours.”

The Player of the Match has not talked to his parents at length about his dream performance as he moves on to the next match.