An engineer turned cricketer: The success story of MI pacer Akash Madhwal

Akash Madhwal was born on 25 November 1993 in the city of Roorkee in Uttarakhand.

He completed his primary and secondary education at Roorkee Public Senior Secondary School.

Later Madhwal did his graduation in Civil engineering.

He was a neighbour of Rishabh Pant and trained under the same coach Avtar Singh.

Madhwal initially used to play tennis ball cricket. However, impressed by his talent, the then Uttarakhand coach Wasim Jaffer and present coach Manish Jha made him practice with the red ball.

His T20 debut for Uttarakhand came on 8 November 2019 in the 2019-20 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.

He made his first-class debut on 25 December 2019 in the 2019–20 Ranji Trophy.

The  pacer’s List A debut for Uttarakhand came on 21 February 2021 in the 2020–21 Vijay Hazare Trophy.

Madhwal became part of the Royal Challengers Bangalore camp for the 2021 season.

He was even named captain of the white-ball side of his state for the 2022/23 domestic season.

After leaving RCB, Madhwal went unsold in the 2022 players’ auction but was picked by the Mumbai Indians franchise for his base price of Rs 20 lakh as a replacement for injured Suryakumar Yadav.

In 2023, MI went on to retain the Uttarakhand pacer.

On 24 May 2023, Madhwal etched his name into the history books by equalling Anil Kumble’s record of the most economical fifer in IPL history.

Madhwal bagged five wickets and conceded just five runs in 3.3 overs against Lucknow Super Giants in the Emininator of IPL 2023