Reigning Indian Premier League champions Chennai Super Kings chose a unique way to welcome one of their latest acquisitions Mustafizur Rahman during the IPL 2024 Mini auction yesterday at Dubai’s Coca-Cola Arena.
Mustafizur Rahman was bought by CSK on his base price of INR 2 Crores which many would say was a bargain given the versatility Mustafizur brings with himself.
The Chennai Super Kings’ strategy of getting players for a cheaper price worked and they are once again looking like serious title contenders for the 2024 edition, which is most likely to start from March next year.
The 5-time champions made New Zealand’s young prospect Rachin Ravindra their first signing for a very shocking amount of just 1.8 Crores. It was indeed a bargain signing given the fact that Ravindra in his first ever experience of playing in India scored 523 runs in 8 ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 matches in October.
CSK would then get All-Rounder Shardul Thakur for another bargained price of 4 crores, 2 Crores more than his base price. However, CSK had to put on a fight to sign New Zealand’s Daryl Mitchell (14 Crore) and uncapped Indian batter Sameer Rizvi for 8.40 Crores.
The South Indian outfit concluded with the final 2 signings – Mustafizur and Avanish Rao Aravelly for their respective base prices. It will be fair to say that CSK pulled off a decent auction which serves as the first stage of preparation before the summer extravaganza.
What Was Unique About CSK’s Announcement of Mustafizur Rahman?
While other franchises welcome their latest arrivals positively, CSK’s Twitter admin chose a “Trolling” way to greet their new Bangladeshi signing Mustafizur Rahman.
In a video uploaded by CSK on X (formerly known as Twitter), Chennai Skipper MS Dhoni and Mustafizur can be seen colliding against one another in a Bangladesh Vs India ODI match in 2015.
The incident took place during the 25th over of the 1st ODI where Dhoni was trying to complete a single after stroking the ball to mid-off with Mustafizur unintentionally crossing the pitch and coming into the path of MSD.
As soon as Dhoni saw Mustafizur Rahman blocking his way to complete the run, the 2011 World Cup-winning captain sneaked in his left elbow to push Mustafizur away who went on to fall onto the pitch.
Watch the video below:
From Collision to Coalition! It’s all #Yellove!?? pic.twitter.com/DRTfFkLcJ0
— Chennai Super Kings (@ChennaiIPL) December 19, 2023
It had created quite a stir back then with many suggesting that Dhoni going rough over his opponent but Dhoni in his own words addressed the situation saying, “I thought he will move and he thought I will move and both of us colliding because I had to take the smaller route as if I go around the bowler there is a chance the batsmen will be run-out.”
And yesterday as soon as Mustafizur was bought, CSK resurfaced that video with a caption that read, “From Collision to Coalition! It’s all Yellove.” It means that from colliding against one another while fighting for their nations, the 2 are now going to fight for a similar cause which is to help Chennai Super Kings land a 6th IPL title.
Chennai Super Kings full squad: MS Dhoni (c), Moeen Ali, Deepak Chahar, Devon Conway, Tushar Deshpande, Shivam Dube, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Rajvardhan Hangargekar, Ravindra Jadeja, Ajay Mandal, Mukesh Choudhary, Matheesha Pathirana, Ajinkya Rahane, Shaik Rasheed, Mitchell Santner, Simarjeet Singh, Nishant Sindhu, Prashant Solanki, Maheesh Theekshana, Rachin Ravindra, Shardul Thakur, Daryl Mitchell, Sameer Rizvi, Mustafizur Rahman, Avanish Rao Aravelly.