Super Kings (CSK) picked Mustafizur Rahman for INR 2 crore in the auction for the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024. However, the Bangladesh pacer was not expected to be their first-choice pacer given that the 5-time champions already had Matheesha Pathirana, who had gained MS Dhoni’s faith with his stupendous death bowling.
However, things turned out to be slightly different. Pathirana sustained a hamstring tear during Sri Lanka’s T20I series against Bangladesh. Subsequently, he missed CSK’s opening match against the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) on March 22 at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.
Mustafizur, in the meantime, made sure that he gave the CSK management a massive headache to deal with. The left-armer won the Player of the Match award after he picked up 4 wickets of Virat Kohli, Faf du Plessis, Rajat Patidar and Glenn Maxwell. On the back of his spell, the Super Kings got off to a flying start after beating RCB by 6 wickets.
Even as Mustafizur is basking in glory, Pathirana has joined the Super Kings camp. With quality pace-bowling options in their team, CSK need to take a call. Former India speedster Laxmipathy Balaji said that it would be tough to bench a bowler of Pathirana’s class, but said that the pacer may have to wait given how Mustafizur performed in the season opener.
‘Pathirana might have to wait’
According to Balaji, Mustafizur is good enough to keep Pathirana out of the playing XI because of his potential to bowl with the new ball and at the death.
“Obviously, for a new entrant like Mustafizur to perform on the very first game was phenomenal. But what Pathirana did was he provided the cushion CSK wanted for a long time, especially after (Dwayne) Bravo, because Bravo used to provide that cushion during the death overs to CSK,” Balaji told Star Sports.
“Pathirana straightaway got fit into that role and it probably depends on how well new ball bowlers bowl according to that, probably Pathirana might have to wait. Because Mustafizur can bowl in the death and in the start as well. So probably in that aspect I feel it’s a good headache to have when you have a fit Pathirana into the side,” Balaji added.
Can Mustafizur, Pathirana play together?
But is there a chance that both Pathirana and Mustafizur will fit into CSK’s playing XI? Who amongst Rachin Ravindra, Daryl Mitchell and Maheesh Theekshana go out then?
Ravindra is a makeshift opener for CSK after Devon Conway’s injury. Also, after the knock he played against RCB, it would be tough to even think about leaving him out.
Daryl Mitchell can hit the ball a long distance and showed his skills in the ODI World Cup last year where he scored 2 centuries against India. With an ability to bowl handy medium pace, the Super Kings may continue with persist with him.
That leaves CSK with Maheesh Theekshana, who has been an asset for them over the last couple of seasons. On slow and low pitches at the Chepauk, the Sri Lankan spinner comes in handy.
The Super Kings are set to face the Gujarat Titans (GT) on Tuesday and it remains to be seen what would be their foreign combination.
CSK and MS Dhoni generally don’t believe in changing playing XIs frequently. But given certain circumstances, they may need to be a little flexible, especially when push comes to shove.
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