The SMAT offers good preparatory ground ahead of next year’s IPL.
Looking ahead to the upcoming season of the Indian Premier League (IPL 2025), the ongoing edition of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (SMAT) will provide a solid preparatory ground for Indian and domestic stars.
One player who will hope to make the most of it is Chennai Super Kings (CSK) pacer Mukesh Choudhary. Mukesh, who joined CSK for the first time in IPL 2022, was once again 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 all the right things right now in the SMAT to carve out a redemption arc and be in the calculation of the CSK Playing XI in the upcoming season.
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Mukesh Choudhary, who is representing Maharashtra in the domestic short format tournament, is the leading wicket-taker so far with a total of 15 wickets and best figures of 4/33.
Mukesh Choudhary had a great debut season in IPL
In IPL, Mukesh has taken 16 wickets in 14 appearances. Interestingly, all his scalps came in his debut season in IPL 2022.
Despite a great debut and being an integral piece in CSK’s pace attack, unfortunately for him, Mukesh was ruled out of IPL 2023 due to injury and was replaced by Akash Singh.
In IPL 2024, Mukesh played in only one game and failed to get any wicket.
Solid domestic form
Apart from his SMAT heroics, 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 among the leading wicket-takers, finishing the tournament with the second-most scalps (21) while playing for the Eagle Nashik Titans.
How can Mukesh Choudhary fit in CSK’s squad for IPL 2025?
Mukesh had already testified to his prowess, both in domestic cricket and in the CSK jersey. His recent performances in the SMAT will further support his cause and keep him on the radar of the CSK selectors.
While CSK have a left-arm Indian pacer in Khaleel Ahmed, who is expected to be the first choice, they also have two backups in Gurjapneet Singh and Mukesh Choudhary, ensuring healthy competition within the team.
Given Mukesh’s previous association with the franchise and his domestic form, he can be expected to get preference over Gurjapneet if Khaleel is not delivering and CSK want to experiment with other options.
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