The day after being bought for ₹9.2 crore in the IPL auction, Mustafizur Rahman delivered a magical over.
After a slightly expensive first over, Mustafizur bounced back in his second spell. In one over, he claimed three wickets while conceding just a single run. However, missed catches by fielders and a six off the final ball prevented his bowling figures from looking more spectacular.
Playing for Dubai Capitals in the IL T20, Mustafizur took 3 wickets for 34 runs in four overs against MI Emirates.
At one point, MI Emirates were 89 for 1 in the 12th over, but Mustafizur’s disciplined bowling helped restrict them to 137 for 8 in 20 overs. The total could have been even lower, but the Capitals’ fielders dropped a total of seven catches!
Bangladesh star Shakib Al Hasan was once again left out of the Emirates’ playing XI.
In the previous four matches, Mustafizur bowled in the second half of the innings, after the Capitals batted first. On Wednesday at Dubai International Stadium, Capitals captain Dasun Shanaka won the toss and chose to bowl, giving Mustafizur a chance in the second half.
On the first day of his IPL campaign after being bought for ₹9.2 crore, Mustafizur’s initial over went for 10 runs. Johnny Bairstow hit a boundary off the third ball, a short delivery, and then got another boundary off the sixth ball, a slower one.
In the 10th over, Mustafizur missed a chance to dismiss Bairstow when a catch was dropped at short third man off Waqas Salamkhil’s delivery. Eventually, Bairstow finished his innings on 67 runs off 40 balls, hitting eight fours and three sixes.
Mustafizur returned to bowl in the 16th over, conceding just 7 runs. Then came the magical 18th over. The first ball, a slower delivery, was lofted into the air by Rashid Khan and taken at mid-off by Shanaka. The next ball went for a single, and the remaining four balls yielded no runs.
On the third ball, another slower delivery trapped Tom Banton at long-on. The fifth ball saw AM Gazanfar caught brilliantly at slip after an outside-off poke.
Mustafizur gave away 16 runs in his final over. The first ball, a yorker, went for a boundary by Romario Shepherd. On the fourth ball, he almost got Shepherd out, but the catch was missed at long-off by Jordan Cox. After taking two runs off consecutive balls, Shepherd smashed the final delivery, a slower full-length ball, for a six.
In his debut IL T20 season, Mustafizur now has 9 wickets in 5 matches.
