Mustafizur Rahman to go back to Bangladesh leaving CSK!! BCB puts a stamp

In a recent development, the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) has decided to extend their senior left-arm pacer Mustafizur Rahman's stay in the Indian Premier League for one more day.

Rahman, who is currently playing his 7th IPL season for his 5th franchise - the Chennai Super Kings, was due to return to his homeland on April 31st as his NOC for the league would have expired that day. However, upon receiving a request from CSK, the BCB has decided to allow the seamer to be in India until May 1. 

Mustafizur Rahman, in only his first season with the 5-time champions, has turned out to become a key asset for the team, which is playing under the captaincy of Ruturaj Gaikwad for the first time.

Rahman has formed a lethal pace bowling duo with Sri Lanka's Matheesha Pathirana as their variations and change of pace have helped CSK enormously.

Through their and the batting unit's form, the Yellow Brigade is currently 3rd in the points table after winning 4 out of their first 6 league stage matches. 

In most of the matches, except the one against Sunrisers Hyderabad where CSK suffered their 2nd consecutive loss, Mustafizur Rahman has been able to chip in with wickets. He has become a trump card for Gaikwad and a very useful player when it comes to providing an instant impact in the game.

His impact is such that Rahman has already scalped the same amount of wickets he took in the last two seasons combined - 10. 

Mustafizur Rahman is also experiencing his best bowling season since the 2021 edition when he finished with 14 wickets from 14 matches. He is currently averaging 2 wickets per game from the 5 matches that he has played for CSK against Bengaluru, Gujarat, Delhi, Kolkata, and Mumbai.

On his CSK debut in the 2024 IPL opener against RCB, Rahman registered his best IPL figures of 4/29 whereas against GT he had 2/30, 1/47 against DC, 2/22 versus KKR, and 1/55 against MI. 

Why will Mustafizur Rahman leave IPL on May 1? 

The Bangladesh nation team is all set to welcome Zimbabwe for a 5-match T20I series at home from May 3rd onwards at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chittagong. The 5 T20Is will be played on 3rd, 5th, 7th, 10th and 12th of May.

After that, the team will fly to the USA for another 3-match T20I series, starting from the 21st of the same month with the second and third matches taking place on the 23rd and 25th of May, a day before the IPL 2024 final. 

Following the series against Zimbabwe and USA, the Bangla Tigers will kick off their ICC T20 World Cup 2024 campaign against Sri Lanka on June 8. For this particular reason, Mustafizur Rahman, whose performances are being tracked by the BCB, will join the national team a day after he was originally scheduled to join.

The CSK management along with the BCCI made a special request to the Bangladesh board to extend Rahman's stay, which has already been approved. 

This means that Rahman will be available for CSK's games against Lucknow Super Giants, Sunrisers Hyderabad, and the Punjab Kings on April 19, 23, 28, and May 1 respectively.