Mukesh Choudhary, Chennai Super Kings' star against Mumbai Indians in IPL 2022, hails from Rajasthan’s Bhilwara but plays for Maharashtra in domestic cricket.
“There is a really big performance from Mukesh Choudhary just around the corner” – Chennai Super Kings’ batting coach Michael Hussey had said after the 25-year-old pacer had a couple of average outings at the start of IPL 2022. Hussey and the entire CSK camp knew what Mukesh was capable of and they were just waiting for his moment to arrive. The moment arrived sooner than later.
Mukesh leaked 39 runs without any wicket in 3.3 overs in his debut IPL match against Lucknow Super Giants. He returned 1/52 in 4 overs against Punjab Kings. However, CSK persisted with the youngster and he returned 1/30 in the next match against Sunrisers Hyderabad. Then versus Royal Challengers Bangalore, Mukesh again leaked runs before putting up a decent performance against Gujarat Titans.
The left-arm pacer had a ball on Thursday night when he got the wicket of Rohit Sharma off the second ball of the match. He then produced a peach of a delivery to castle Ishan Kishan with the fifth ball at Mumbai’s DY Patil Stadium.
“I never thought I’d play cricket. Was at boarding school in Pune, we had an hour’s sports period and I used to play all kinds of sports there. Tried playing cricket and seemed to be good at it,” said the young pacer after the match.
“Have to bowl well in the powerplay where I’m supposed to bowl three overs. There is no pressure actually, to play with such big players around you automatically takes all the pressure away. I just want to have a good time and enjoy myself,” he added.
Mukesh returned figures of 3/19 in 3 overs in the game on Thursday and suddenly the questions regarding his selection in the team faded away. They were replaced by another one - Who is Mukesh Choudhary?
One man’s loss is another man’s gain! The saying perfectly fits the case of Mukesh. Had CSK’s first-choice swing bowler Deepak Chahar been fit, Mukesh would have found it hard to make it to the playing XI. And a couple of bad outings at the start would have meant CSK closing doors on him for the entire IPL 2022 season.
As fate would have it, Deepak missed IPL 2022 from the first game itself and Tushar Deshpande too had a mediocre start. This forced CSK to try Mukesh. Despite a couple of poor outings, CSK did a CSK and kept backing the player until he repaid the trust completely on Thursday night.
Mukesh, who hails from Rajasthan’s Bhilwara, made his First-Class Debut for Maharashtra in 2017. He has so far played 13 games in the format and picked 38 wickets. In 2019, Mukesh played his maiden games in the List A and T20 formats. He has 17 wickets to his name from 12 List A games and 23 wickets from 18 T20s.
He was picked by the CSK franchise as a net bowler in IPL 2021 before he emerged as the highest wicket-taker for Maharashtra in the 2021-22 Vijay Hazare Trophy. CSK doled out INR 20 lakh for the player in IPL auction 2022 and it later proved beneficial as injury ruled Deepak Chahar out.
While speaking to CSK TV, Mukesh revealed that he started playing with a tennis ball during childhood as there was no cricket club in his village. A shift to a boarding school in Pune in the ninth standard saw the left-arm pacer getting opportunities to play with a cricket ball. His father and his elder sister were among the ones who greatly supported him in his journey.
Mukesh has also been trained by Australian bowling legend Glenn McGrath at the MRF Pace Foundation in Chennai.
“My father did a lot for us and there’s nobody bigger than him for me,” said Mukesh, adding, “My journey has been difficult but my family supported me.”
IPL 2022 is not over yet. While Mukesh will be learning more as the season progresses, there is no surprise that the batters too would be wary of him.