When Ashwin bowled before Ashwin

Fearsome first balls of fire

First, it was Ishant Sharma. The first ball he bowled on Saturday - and the first ball he bowled this season - ducked into Rohit Sharma and trapped him plumb in front. Then came Mitchell Marsh. Hardik Pandya top-edged the seamer's first ball high in the air, and MS Dhoni settled comfortably under the catch. Rajat Bhatia was the third Rising Pune Supergiants bowler to strike with his first ball; a sharp offcutter, landing on the perfect length and pinning Kieron Pollard to the crease. And that was by no means all: enter R Ashwin. His first ball was the filthiest of long-hops which Ambati Rayudu could have hit anywhere he pleased. He swivelled, struck the ball firmly, and hit it straight to Faf du Plessis at midwicket.

The specialist non-bowler

During the World T20, MS Dhoni gave R Ashwin his full quota of overs only twice in five matches. He bowled three overs against Pakistan and only two overs each against Australia and West Indies. Dhoni has captained R Ashwin right through his IPL career - at Chennai Super Kings for the tournament's first eight seasons, and now at Rising Pune Supergiants. The new franchise was making its debut on a Wankhede pitch that was helping the seamers, and it wasn't really a surprise that spin only entered the scene in the 11th over of Mumbai's innings.

But the Ashwin who took the ball at that point was the debutant legspinner M Ashwin rather than the world-renowned offspinner R Ashwin. M Ashwin had bowled three overs before R Ashwin finally came on for the first time, in the 16th over. It was the only over he bowled, despite the fact that he took a wicket off his first ball.

The deflection that wasn't

In M Ashwin's final over, Harbhajan Singh thumped a tossed-up delivery back down the pitch. M Ashwin was falling away to the off side in his follow-through, and he stretched out his right leg to try and intercept. The ball clattered into the stumps at the non-striker's end, and the bowler went up in appeal. Umpire CK Nandan went up to the third umpire, and though replays showed Vinay Kumar to be out of his crease, they also confirmed that M Ashwin's foot had come nowhere near making contact with the ball.

The mix-up

In the sixth over of the Supergiants innings, Ajinkya Rahane inside-edged Jasprit Bumrah into the leg side, a fair way to the left of the fine-leg fielder. Rahane turned quickly after completing the first run, looking for a second, and saw Faf du Plessis taking a couple of steps down the pitch at the other end. Du Plessis, however, changed his mind, and both batsmen were suddenly headed in the same direction. A throw at the bowler's end would have meant a certain run-out, but the fielder threw to the keeper, Jos Buttler, who fumbled the ball, deflecting it off his glove and sending it rolling down the pitch. Buttler and du Plessis were now in a foot race, running neck-and-neck halfway down the pitch when the former swooped on the ball and flicked it towards the bowler's end. The ball missed the stumps, and du Plessis had dived home by the time J Suchith, the substitute fielder at mid-on, rushed in, collected the ball, and removed the bails.

Six runs for evasive action

Du Plessis had hit a six off the previous ball, lifting Bumrah sweetly over the extra-cover boundary. He ran down the pitch to the next ball, showing his intentions a little too early, and Bumrah banged in the bouncer. The surprised Du Plessis swerved his head, taking his eye off the ball, and brought his bat around in a motion not dissimilar to a pull shot, though he was looking to shield himself rather than play a shot. The ball clipped the edge of his bat and flew all the way over the third-man boundary.