(Reuters) -Mumbai Indians captain Hardik Pandya heaped praise on his team's scouting department for unearthing another gem in Ashwani Kumar, after the pace bowler produced the best figures by an Indian on his Indian Premier League debut.

The results may have gone up and down for Mumbai Indians but one aspect of their cricket that has never faltered is the consistency of their talent scouts. The five-time IPL champions have one of the most well-established talent spotting programmes in the tournament and their latest find - left-arm pacer Ashwani Kumar - underscored the robustness

A sparkling debut performance by medium pacer Ashwani Kumar helped IPL powerhouses Mumbai Indians register their first win of the season on Monday, downing Kolkata Knight Riders by eight wickets. Kumar's 4-24 -- and an overall disciplined bowling performance -- restricted champions Kolkata to a modest total of 116,