Mustafiz regains his position as the top wicket-taker in this season's IPL

Sports

08 April, 2024, 11:05 pm
Last modified: 08 April, 2024, 11:19 pm
Mustafizur, who had been miserly but wicketless in his first two overs, took both of his wickets in his final over.

Chennai Super Kings held Kolkata Knight Riders to a below-par137 for nine in their Indian Premier League (IPL) match at Chepauk on Monday.

Veteran all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja and pacer Tushar Deshpande each took three wickets, while Bangladesh's Mustafizur Rahman took two to bring his total to nine in the ongoing edition, surpassing Yuzevendra Chahal of the Rajasthan Royals to reclaim the Purple Cap, which is awarded to the tournament's highest wicket-taker.

"He's been very good... Batsmen are not able to read his slower. He has been amazing," Jadeja said of Mustafizur after handing him the Purple Cap following the close of the first innings.

Mustafizur, who had been miserly but wicketless in his first two overs, took both of his wickets in his final over.

Starting proceedings after Deshpande dismissed Phil Salt for zero in the opening delivery of the match, Mustafizur gave only 12 runs in his first two overs, including seven dots from the Cutter Master during the Powerplay.

Jadeja then caused havoc, taking three wickets to leave Kolkata on 64 for four, a position from which they were unable to recover.

Returning to bowl at the death in the 18th over, Mustafizur was denied dangerman Andre Russell's wicket after Mahendra Singh Dhoni failed to take a simple one-handed catch behind the stumps. Despite delivering four dots in that over, all to Russell, Mustafizur scored nine runs, including a four off a no-ball and a wide.

Fizz eventually got his reward in his and the innings' penultimate over, when Jadeja took his 100th IPL catch, sprinting from deep midwicket to send Shreyas Iyer back to the pavilion, before Rachin Ravindra caught Mitchell Starc. He finished with an amazing record of 4-0-22-2.

 

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.