2024-05-03 06:41:48
Along with Jasprit Bumrah and Harshal Patel, Mustafizur Rahman topped the list of highest wicket takers in IPL with 14 wickets. On Wednesday, Bangladesh’s star pacer had a chance to surpass everyone. He also had a chance to get the purple cap in his last match in this tournament.
But Mustafiz was wicketless at the Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai that day. Despite keeping his standards in tight bowling against Punjab Kings, he did not get any wickets. The left-handed pacer gave 22 runs in 1 maiden in 4 overs. His team did not do well. Chennai could not fight with a capital of 162 runs. 13 balls ago, Punjab confirmed the victory by 7 wickets.
Mustafiz’s bowling was off to a good start. Turn two overs in the power play. He did not give more than 3 runs in the first over. He gave 10 runs in the second over. Despite not getting a wicket, he kept the batsmen under pressure. He gave 13 runs in the first spell even after hitting 2 boundaries.
Mustafiz was brought back to bowl in the 15th over of the match. By that time, the match was very much out of Chennai’s hands. Riley Russo’s 23-ball 43 and Jonny Bairstow’s 30-ball 46 led Punjab into the match. Punjab need only 28 runs from 36 balls.
The left-arm pacer came to the bowling and did not give any chance to the batsman in his third over. Mustafiz brought the equation down to 28 off 30 balls in the maiden over. Right-handed attacking batsman Shashank Singh was in the batting. Mustafiz beats the batsman with a slower and cutter outside the offstump. Shashank did not get any chance to take runs.
However, his excellent bowling did not help. In the next over, Shashank reduced the gap further with a huge six. Mostafiz did not hit any boundaries in his last over. But lengthened the over with 4 wides. Still, Mustafiz was tight with 22 runs in 4 overs.
Bumrah’s 14 wickets at 6.40 economy in 10 matches. Harshal Patel also got 14 wickets at 10.18 economy in 10 matches. Mustafiz played 9 matches to get 14 wickets. Where his economy is 9.26.
Mostafiz won the best emerging cricketer award in his first season in IPL. Sebar played a major role in Sunrisers Hyderabad winning the title. He got 17 wickets in 16 matches. This is his best achievement in IPL so far. If he could have played the whole season the way he was spreading light with the ball, he could have surpassed the previous record for sure. But because of the national team series, BCB is bringing him back. He is scheduled to return home on Thursday.
Chennai did not get off to a bad start when they were invited to bat by Punjab. The two opening batsmen Ajinkya Rahane and Rituraj Gaigoda put on 64 runs in 8.2 overs. Then there was a sudden collapse in their camp. 3 batsmen in the dressing room to go from 64 to 70 runs. After Rahane was dismissed for 29 off 24 balls, Shivam Dube returned for a wicket. After being called up to the World Cup team, he accompanied the Golden Duck in the first innings. Ravindra Jadeja got out for 2 runs off 4 balls.
Chennai skipper Gaiwad, who remained on the wicket, picked up another fifty. Chennai continued to advance with his bat. But it didn’t get the storm it needed for a big run. Before being bowled by Arshdeep, Guideward scored 62 runs off 48 balls with 5 fours and 2 sixes.
From there, Chennai got fighting capital with Samir Rizveer’s 21, Moeen Ali’s 15 and Dhoni’s 14 runs. Dhoni was run out while taking 2 runs in the last ball. This is the first time the four-time IPL title-winning captain has been dismissed in this year’s IPL.
Mustafiz began his journey in the jersey of Chennai with 4 wickets. Even though there were ups and downs, he left his mark in the end with good bowling. He should have a smile on his face.