Alzarri Joseph had a fairytale start in the Indian Premier League (IPL) and created history with Mumbai Indians on Saturday after starring for the three-time champions as they defended a modest total against Sunrisers Hyderabad. The match against SRH was Joseph’s IPL debut and it couldn’t have gone any better by his own admission. After a wicket-maiden opening over that saw him dismiss the in-form David Warner, Joseph conceded just 12 runs from the remaining three overs and picked up another five scalps to cap off the most memorable bowling debut in IPL history.

His figures of 6 for 12 is now the best performance by a bowler in the IPL. Joseph’s record surpassed the previous best in the IPL of 6 for 14 by Sohail Tanvir with Rajasthan Royals. It was also the best debut performance by any bowler in the IPL and is the eighth best figures in all T20 cricket as well as the best by a West Indian in the shortest format.

Our bowling coach Shane Bond was full of praise for the 22-year-old. “Dream debut for Alzarri, it is downhill from here really,” Bond joked. “But I have really enjoyed his brain, his cricket brain. Coming into the team for such a young guy, he was calm and very clear about what he wanted to do. And then to just come out and be very consistent today and put in a performance like that. I am delighted for him and the whole team is.”

“I am delighted for him, I do not really mind who gets the wickets, it is always a collective effort. I hope that when guys bowl well someone will get a whole lot of wickets as a result and today it was Alzarri. He bowled well, the beauty was all of the bowlers created pressure which meant that he was able to come in and pick up wickets. He did some really smart stuff like the bouncer to Rashid (Khan) and really straight balls in the backend as well,” the Kiwi legend added in an interview with MITV.

Only the second bowler to take a five-wicket haul on his IPL debut after Andrew Tye, Joseph broke Lasith Malinga’s 10-year record for best figures by a debutant for MI. Joseph’s performance on Saturday also saw him climb above Malinga’s figures of 3 for 15, which was earlier the best performance by an MI bowler on debut. A list that sees Joseph join Malinga is the one for the handful of bowlers who managed to take five wickets in MI colours. Joseph became just the fourth bowler to bag at least five wickets in a match after Malinga, Harbhajan Singh and Munaf Patel.

At 22 years and 137 days of age, Joseph also became the second-youngest bowler to claim a five-fer in the IPL. However, his composure and poise on the field speaks volumes about him. When asked about his demeanour on the pitch by Rohit Sharma in a fun interview with IPLT20.com, the youngster said: “I don’t really celebrate wickets, I celebrate wins. So, my aim isn’t just to get wickets, but to win the game for my team.”    

Our skipper Rohit himself lavished praise on the young Antiguan. “When you come into the squad, making your debut for any team and in any format is not that easy. But he made it count and made us win the game single-handedly in terms of our bowling,” Rohit said.