Wearing a significantly different shirt than his colleagues, Mustafizur Rahman made his Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 debut for Chennai Super Kings (CSK).
During the Dubai 2024 auctions, the team managed by Ruturaj Gaikwad secured the services of a Bangladeshi pacer for a base fee of INR 2 crore. Mustafizur made his debut for the five-time winners, who took on Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Friday, March 22, in the first game of the lucrative 17th season of the league.
Some fans were drawn to Mustafizur’s shirt during the match since it lacked the identical branding that was on the jerseys of the other Chennai players. That specific emblem represented the franchise’s corporate sponsor, SJ Alcohol Brands. Reports state that the left-arm pacer refused to have the logo of an alcohol company on his uniform.
Rahman is not the only player to have objected to having the emblem of an alcohol company on his shirt because of his religious beliefs. Famous cricket players, claiming their religious convictions, have previously worn jerseys without alcohol or other intoxicating product logos, including Hashim Amla, Imran Tahir, Moeen Ali, and Rashid Khan.
GT vs. CSK in the 2023 final replay
In CSK’s opening IPL 2024 encounter, Mustafizur was a key player. He went on to win Player of the Match after recording his best league numbers of 4/29. The defending champions reached the mark with six wickets and eight balls remaining after reducing RCB to 173/6.
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Next up for Gaikwad’s team is their season-opening match against Gujarat Titans on Tuesday, March 26 at MA Chidambaram Stadium. This is a rematch of the 2017 final, which MS Dhoni-led Chennai won at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad after Ravindra Jadeja hit a boundary off the penultimate ball.
Similar to Chennai, Gujarat enters the match fresh off a victory. On Sunday, March 24, Shubman Gill defeated the Mumbai Indians by a margin of six runs to begin his IPL debut as captain. When the Titans and Super Kings square off on Tuesday, fans can anticipate an exciting game.
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