Chennai Super Kings Wanted To Take Me, Says Bangladesh Allrounder Mohammad Saifuddin
Published - 11 Aug 2020, 12:15 AM | Updated - 23 Aug 2024, 12:32 AM
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Bangladesh allrounder Mohammad Saifuddin has revealed he was very close to joining IPL franchise Sunrisers Hyderabad or Chennai Super Kings before injury ruined his dream. He was talking about his recurring back injury that troubled him in the second half of the last year.
The injury forced him to miss the tour of Sri Lanka as well as the tour of India where he could have further enhanced his reputation. Last year, he had earned his maiden central contract from Bangladesh Cricket Board and was part of the team for the World Cup in the UK.
The fast-bowling allrounder had impressed against India in the tournament, scoring an unbeaten 51 although his team ended up losing the game against the Men in Blue. He had then impressed with the ball against Pakistan, picking up three wickets.
And while his performance could not take Bangladesh to the semifinal, it was enough for him to impress the legendary VVS Laxman. In fact, the former India batsman,who is the mentor of Sunrisers Hyderabad, was so impressed with Mohammad Saifuddin that he went on to enquire about him. Srinivas Chandrasekharan, who works with both Bangladesh and the Sunrisers, had told Laxman about Mohammad Saifuddin.
Was close to playing in IPL:
In a recent chat with Bangladesh news outlet BDcrictime, Mohammad Saifuddin has revealed he was really close to joining either Sunrisers Hyderabad or Chennai Super Kings before the back injury dashed his hopes.
“You can say playing in the IPL is my dream. When I played in the last match at the Lord’s, (against Pakistan in the 2019 World Cup), VVS Laxman came to enquire about me. Our (Bangladesh) performance analyst is India’s Srinivas Chandrasekharan and he works in the Sunrisers Hyderabad as well. He wanted to know how would I fare in the IPL. But injury destroyed everything,” he said.
About Super Kings, the Bangladesh ace said he came to know about the franchise’s interest in him through Lakshmi Narayan, who has worked both at Super Kings and at the Dhaka Platoon, as a performance analyst.
“I was close to a chance. I heard that CSK had a discussion about me. Laxmi was our (Dhaka Platoon) video analyst as well. He told me, ‘Dhoni has talked about you’. I replied, ‘You do everything, but have allergy towards Bangladesh cricketers’.
“He said, ‘See, I’m not lying’. I said, ‘We are not someone to be pushed back’. He replied ‘See, I sent this bowling video of yours to Dhoni’. In the video, I could see Dhoni telling, ‘Ok;. They wanted to take me, but I missed due to injury. Hence they didn’t show interest in me and Josh Hazlewood was picked,” Mohammad Saifuddin added.
