Bangladesh pacer Mustafizur Rahman has had a stellar start to his Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 season with Delhi Capitals.
In three matches for the Capitals, he has bagged three wickets at an economy rate of 5.83. He sets the tone early in the innings in the powerplay and then comes back to bowl two of the final four overs for the Capitals.
In spite of getting the ball when the batsmen are most likely to attack, Mustafiz has managed to keep the batsmen quiet. 'The Fizz' has already won the hearts of Delhi fans with his bag of tricks.
But Mustafiz is not content with his performance as he believes that there is always room for improvement. “There is no end to improving, whenever I get on field I try to give my best,” Mustafiz said in an interview uploaded in Delhi Capitals official Twitter account on Tuesday.
Mustafiz began his IPL season with a bang, when he claimed 3-23 against Gujarat Titans. Even though his team lost that match, the Delhi Capitals head coach Ricky Ponting made sure Mustafiz’s efforts didn’t go unrewarded. In the post-match team discussion, he named him the player of the match for Delhi.
Ponting has been doing this after every Delhi match and Mustafiz feels that it’s a great initiative from the Australian coach, “Not just for me, it’s very encouraging for any player. Whether we win or lose, if you perform well, you get praised in front of everyone in the dressing room. I think it’s a very good initiative from our coach.”
Delhi is Mustafiz’s fourth franchise in the IPL. He began his IPL career in 2016 with the Sunrisers Hyderabad. After two seasons at the Hyderabad franchise, he played one year at Mumbai Indians and then played for the Rajsthan Royals last year.
Mustafiz explained what his reaction was when he got picked up by Delhi and how the experience has been for him so far, “I didn’t see the auction. I was playing in the BPL at the time. Our team was batting, I was in the dugout. Someone saw it and told me, Fizz, you are in Delhi Capitals. I was excited. I have played in three different teams before, this year I will play in a new team. It felt great.”
Mustafiz also talked about the many familiar faces in the Delhi team, “I have played with many of the players from the team before, whether it was with them or against them. Last season, Chetan Sakariya was in my team, I have played with David Warner (in Sunrisers Hyderabad) for two years. Overall, it’s been a good experience.”
Delhi have won two and lost two so far in the competition and are sixth in the 10-team table.
Mustafiz is very happy with the balance in the team and confident that they will go far in the competition, “We have won two matches and lost two. We have a very good balance in the team. We have good players in the batting and bowling department. Overall, we have a very good and balanced team.”