Sports Desk

Bangladesh pacer Mustafizur Rahman took no time to bring the fizz back in Chennai Super Kings colours as he came up with a superb bowling display to help his franchise win their season opener against Royal Challengers Bengaluru at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Friday.

The left-arm pacer was recruited by Chennai as the backup of Matheesha Pathirana after the latter picked injury and he seized the opportunity with both hands by picking his IPL career-best 4-29.

This is the seventh season in the IPL for Mustafizur, who previously played for the Sunrisers Hyderabad, Mumbai Indians, Rajasthan Royals, and Delhi Capitals in the previous seasons before he was roped in by Chennai for his base price of RS two crore in the auction.

He is gifted with a supple left wrist and the ability to flick it at the very last moment before releasing the ball and disguising it in his usual bowling action has been bread and butter over the last eight years.

Mustafizur hogged the spotlight 12 months after arriving on the international stage when he took 17 wickets in a title-winning season with Hyderabad.

Chennai’s gamble of picking him for a base price despite his struggle at the international stage in the recent past followed by an average performance in the IPL after the first season with Hyderabad raised quite a few eyebrows but eventually it proved dividends as he showed he still got what it takes to be a match winner in the IPL, picking four wickets in first 10 balls.

“What makes it tough is the fact that he (Mustafizur) can bowl at 138-139 kmph and then he has a slower one which is really deceptive. He bowls it at 120-125, which makes it really hard to line him up. That’s what is so special about him. He’s a world-class bowler,” Bengaluru batsman Dinesh Karthik said following the game.

Tom Moody, who was at the helm of Hyderabad when the left-arm pacer took the world by storm, felt that Mustafizur has been getting back to his best which was missing due to a shoulder injury.

“I hope so (Mustafizur is returning to his best). When he was at his very best and that was pre-shoulder surgery and that’s when he had his slower ball at its absolute best and no one could pick him,” Moody said while analysing the game in a leading cricket website ESPNcricinfo.

“When you have that sort of uniqueness, you have got buy into it….he looks like he is getting back on track and that is great,” he concluded.