Mukesh Choudhary is only six matches old in the Indian Premier League, but he wreaked havoc at the D Y Patil stadium in Navi Mumbai on Thursday, April 21, 2022.
The 25-year-old left-arm pacer took on the responsibility of being the Chennai Super Kings' strike bowler. And how wonderfully he met the team's expectations.
Having put the Mumbai Indians into bat, CSK Skipper Ravindra Jadeja would have wanted to make early inroads. Choudhary responded and how!
He first had MI and India Captain Rohit Sharma caught at mid-on for a golden duck, Rohit getting beaten by a full, inswinging, delivery.
Choudhary then had Ishan Kishan (0) bowled all ends up with a sensational inswinging yorker -- rooted onto the crease, Kishan missed the line of the ball, was beaten all ends up, lost his balance and the off stump.
Just when Suryakumar Yadav and Devald Brewis were threating to put on a partnership on the counter, Choudhary struck again, this time outwitting the teenager.
Seeing Brevis coming down the track, Choudhary bowled a slower short one. Done in by the lack of pace, Brevis tried to go at it, only to find the edge, Mahendra Singh Dhoni completing the catch.
Choudhary was also part of Surya's dismissal, taking a fine catch in the deep at long leg to see the back of the in-form MI batter.
His early strikes and SKY's catch put paid to any of Mumbai's efforts to script a solid comeback into the match. MI eventually put up 155-7 on the board, but thanks to Choudhary's early breakthroughs CSK could keep the runs down in the middle overs of the MI innings.
The Maharashtra bowler, who was signed up by CSK for Rs 2 million at the IPL auction, now has 7 wickets from 6 games and certainly has a bright future ahead.
