CSK’s Bangladesh fast bowler is averaging more than 12 dot balls per innings in Chennai, bulk of them being his slower ‘cutters’
There is a well-documented pattern to Mustafizur Rahman’s bowling: two overs in the beginning, two at the backend; probing for swing with the new ball, taking pace off it towards the end. Yet there is more to the Bangladesh fast bowler who has won Man-of-the-Match awards in his debut Test and ODI than this simple breakdown. Enmeshed in his armoury are deft variations of line, length, a mean yorker and two versions of the cutter—one that goes through straighter and quicker and a second, slower delivery that actually cuts off the pitch and draws batters embarrassingly early into shots.
PREMIUM Chennai Super Kings Mustafizur Rahman bowls during the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 cricket match (PTI)
MS Dhoni knows this, having experienced it first-hand in 2015 in what was Rahman’s debut series and probably doesn’t have pleasant recollections primarily because of those cutters. He also knows how to turn that on unsuspecting batters in the IPL. Amazing though is how between then and now the biggest takeaway from Rahman’s bowling remains unchanged highlighting, at the same time, the batters’ collective failure to crack it. That’s not to say all the dismissals have been comprehensive. They have come off cutters pitched wide, off poor shots, off batters trying to force shots and the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) bowler preying on that vulnerability.
Like Shreyas Iyer eyeing a slog over midwicket—totally justified in the last over—but he was clearly early into going after Rahman’s slower off-cutter. And if one was to think Mitchell Starc would be better equipped to pick the cutter, he wasn’t. Beaten twice in defence and a wild heave, Starc understandably tried to go across his stumps but Rahman’s shorter slower one again denied him proper connection. Two wickets and two runs in that last over is normal service for Rahman. Take all his death overs together in this IPL and Rahman has only conceded 64 runs from 48 balls, bulk of them cutters, with four wickets.
Even more striking is 43 dot balls spread across four games, including 16—Rahman’s best so far—against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) on Monday. But there is more to this statistic than what meets the eye. Take away the shellacking CSK’s bowlers were handed by Delhi Capitals in Visakhapatnam and Rahman averages more than two overs in dot balls per match. And it can’t be coincidental that all of them have come at Chepauk.
More or less all subcontinent pitches tend to be slow and low at some point in a match. But like Dhaka’s Mirpur, Chepauk is in your face with its heat and the sluggish nature of the pitch. Bat first or second, the tennis ball bounce can mess with the timing. More deceptive however is the ball dying on batters despite coming out perfectly okay from the bowler’s hand. “It (the pitch) was a bit tacky, especially when the hard-hitters came in,” said Iyer later. “It wasn’t easy for them to go (big) right from the first ball. It changed tremendously after the powerplay.”
Using Chennai’s surface to Rahman’s advantage was probably a no-brainer, but there were still a few things that needed to go well for CSK to steal those 16 dots. Line was one, in the way Andre Russell could be lured into those big booming golf swings in the 18th over but they either didn’t connect or just about did. Length too, for drawing Iyer or Starc into those hoicks proved to be easier with shorter balls. In all of those deliveries the surface played as much of a trick as Rahman’s guile. The trick with Rahman’s bowling anyway is that batters are never comfortable despite having faced him in the past. And based on his latest run, that discomfort may have gone up a whole notch in Chennai.
