Who is Raj Angad Bawa? Mumbai Indians’ latest star replacing Rohit Sharma

Mumbai Indians (MI) have handed 22-year-old Raj Angad Bawa his debut cap in the Indian Premier League (IPL) game versus Lucknow Super Giants. Bawa comes in for Rohit Sharma, who was rested for the game after suffering an injury to his knee before the match. 

The 22-year-old is a right-arm medium pacer with the ability to surprise the batters with his skiddy bowling. Bawa can also bounce out the batters with his very well-disguised short ball. The youngster is also a very powerful hitter of the ball and can score quick runs in the lower-middle order. 

It is to be noted that Raj Angad Bawa was part of the 2022 Under-19 World Cup winning team led by Yash Dhull. Bawa picked up 5/31 with the ball in the finals against England and also scored 35 crucial runs with the bat that helped India win the game by four wickets. 

Has Raj Angad Bawa played IPL before?

After his exploits for the under-19 team, Bawa was picked by Punjab Kings to play in the IPL The youngster played three games for PBKS and scored just 11 runs with the bat and didn’t get a chance to bowl. Mumbai Indians picked Bawa for INR 30 lakhs during the IPL 2025 auctions last November.  

So far, Raj Angad Bawa has played 20 T20 games in domestic cricket and taken 22 scalps. His best is 3/22 and Bawa has an economy rate of 8.6 runs per over. With the bat, Bawa has scored 308 runs with just one fifty and has a strike rate of 127.  

Mumbai Indians won the toss and chose to bowl first as they look to win their second game of the IPL 2025 season. Lucknow are also under pressure, having lost their last game to PBKS by eight wickets at home. Questions have been raised about Rishabh Pant’s captaincy and if the pressure of the huge price tag is affecting him. Akash Deep made his IPL debut for LSG as he replaced left-arm spinner M. Siddharth.