IPL 2019: 3 teams that could be in contention for Mustafizur Rahman
At 23, Mustafizur Rahman is one of the hottest prospects in World cricket. The Bangladeshi left-arm pacer has stunned many world-class players of almost all cricketing nations with his exceptional bowling skills. In 27 T20Is so far, Mustafizur has taken 43 wickets with his best figures being 5/22. He has already played in four domestic T20 leagues- the Bangladesh Premier League, Indian Premier League, Pakistan Super League and Vitality T20 Blast. PLaying his first ever IPL season in 2016, he took 17 wickets at an impressive economy of 6.90 for the David Warner-led Sunrisers Hyderabad side and was one of the major contributors for their first IPL title win.
This made him bag the Emerging Player of the Tournament (2016) award- thereby becoming the first ever overseas cricketer to be bestowed with the award. Fizz, who joined the Mumbai Indians last season after being bought for INR 2.2 crore couldn't replicate magic for the three-time title winners finishing the season with seven wickets in as many matches at an economy of 8.36. Eventually, he was released by Mumbai during the IPL trading window and will now enter the auctions. Let us now look at three times that should target the talented left-arm pacer.
3) Kolkata Knight Riders
The Kolkata Knight Riders welcomed a new captain last season on ending their seven-year successful association with Gautam Gambhir. Tamil Nadu wicket-keeper batsman, Dinesh Karthik was appointed as the skipper amidst mixed reactions from the fans. But captaincy brought the best out of Karthik, who amassed 498 runs (including two fifties) at a strike-rate of 147.77 last season. Injuries to several star players just weeks before the 2018 season raised questions about their chances in the tournament but they answered it in style. Skipper, Dinesh Karthik guided them to a respectable third-place finish after losing the Qualifier-2 against the eventual runners-up, Sunrisers Hyderabad at home by 14 runs.
KKR suffered a major set back just a week before the 2018 IPL kick-off as they lost Mitchell Starc to leg injury Starc was bought for a whopping INR 9.8 crore at 2018 auctions only to be replaced by Englishman, Tom Curran. Also, Mitchell Johson was not at his usual best picking up just two wickets in six matches he played throughout the season. 2018 Under 19 World Cup winner and young Indian pacer, Kamlesh Nagarkoti who can clock the 140-kph mark consistently was drafted into the squad for a staggering INR 3.2 crore at the auctions but was later replaced by Karnataka pacer, Prasidh Krishna as he suffered a Foot injury seven days into the tournament.
Prasidh was really impressive throughout, picking up 10 wickets in seven matches (best figures 4/30) but other pacers hardly complemented. With Prasidh looking good and young Shivam Mavi, Kamlesh Nagarkoti expected to come back stronger, all that KKR need is a quality overseas pacer like Mustafizur having already released the likes of Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Johnson, Tom Curran and Javon Searles.