South Africa’s young left-arm fast bowler Kwena Maphaka, who won the U-19 Cricket World Cup Player of the Year award, made his debut in the IPL league. Maphaka has become the youngest player in the Mumbai Indians team. However, Maphaka had a debut to forget.
On his IPL debut, skipper Hardik Pandya handed the ball to Maphaka to bowl the first over in an experiment. He bowled the first over well. But, in the next three overs, the Hyderabad batsmen destroyed Maphaka’s bowling. Hyderabad batsmen attacked Maphaka’s bowling. Maphaka, the highest wicket-taker in the U-19 World Cup, gave away 66 runs in 4 overs on his debut and failed to claim a single wicket.
He never dreamed that his bowling would be attacked in such a manner on his IPL debut. Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma and Klaasen smashed Maphaka’s bowling. Hence Maphaka’s embarrassing record was recorded.
Earlier in 2013, the RCB batsmen launched a similar attack on the bowling of Neser, who made his debut for Punjab Kings. He had given 62 runs. Maphaka is an emerging fast bowler from South Africa. He is touted as a future star bowler and is nicknamed ‘Baby’ Rabada.
Kwena Maphaka is yet to make his international debut. In the U19 World Cup, he took the most wickets of 21. He was adjudged the best player of the tournament. Mumbai tried 6 of their bowlers in the match against Hyderabad. Maphaka spent the most runs in all of this. Maphaka gave 16.50 runs per over.
In place of the injured Dilshan Madhushanka, Mumbai Indians included Kwena Maphaka in their team at the right time. Maphaka is the second youngest Mumbai player to make his IPL debut. Maphaka is known for his dangerous yorkers. His bowling speed is 140 km per hour. However, his performance in the first match has become forgettable at the earliest.
