The SMAT offers a good preparatory ground ahead of next year's IPL.
Ahead of the upcoming Indian Premier League (IPL 2025) season, the ongoing edition of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (SMAT) will offer a strong preparatory ground for the domestic and India stars.
One player who will be hoping to make the most of it is Chennai Super Kings (CSK) pacer Mukesh Choudhary. Mukesh, who first joined CSK back in IPL 2022, was once againt bought by the five-time winners in the recent IPL 2025 auction in Saudi Arabia for his base price of INR 30 lakhs.
And Mukesh is doing everything correct at the moment in the SMAT to carve out a redemption arc for himself and be in the reckoning for the CSK Playing XI in the next season.
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Representing Maharashtra in the short-format domestic tournament, Mukesh Choudhary is the leading wicket-taker so far with a total tally of 15 wickets and best figures of 4/33.
In IPL, Mukesh has taken 16 wickets from 14 appearances. Interesitngly, all his scalps have come in his debut season in IPL 2022.
Despite a breakout debut and being an integral cog in the CSK pace attack, unfortunately for him, Mukesh was ruled out for IPL 2023 due to injury and was replaced by Akash Singh.
In IPL 2024, Mukesh featured in only one game and couldn’t pick up any wicket.
Apart from his heroics in the SMAT, he is also the highest wicket-taker for Maharashtra in the current Ranji Trophy season and has taken 14 wickets at an average of 26.57.
Earlier this year during the Maharashtra Premier League, Mukesh was once again amongst the leading wicket-takers, finishing the tournament with the second-most scalps (21) while playing for the Eagle Nashik Titans.
Mukesh had already given a testament to his prowess, both in domestic cricket as well as in the CSK jersery. His recent performances in the SMAT will further back his cause and keep him in the radar of the CSK selectors.
While CSK has a left-arm India pacer in Khaleel Ahmed, who is expected to be the first pick, they also have two backups in Gurjapneet Singh and Mukesh Choudhary, ensuring healthy competition within the squad.
Given Mukesh’s previous association with the franchise and his domestic form, it can be expected that he will get the preference over Gurjapneet if Khaleel isn’t delivering and CSK wants to experiment other options.
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