IPL 2019: 3 teams that could be in contention for Mustafizur Rahman 

At 23, Mustafizur Rahman is one of the hottest prospects in World cricket. The Bangladeshi left-arm pacer has stunned many world-class players of almost all cricketing nations with his exceptional bowling skills. In 27 T20Is so far, Mustafizur has taken 43 wickets with his best figures being 5/22. He has already played in four domestic T20 leagues- the Bangladesh Premier League, Indian Premier League, Pakistan Super League and Vitality T20 Blast. PLaying his first ever IPL season in 2016, he took 17 wickets at an impressive economy of 6.90 for the David Warner-led Sunrisers Hyderabad side and was one of the major contributors for their first IPL title win.

This made him bag the Emerging Player of the Tournament (2016) award- thereby becoming the first ever overseas cricketer to be bestowed with the award. Fizz, who joined the Mumbai Indians last season after being bought for INR 2.2 crore couldn't replicate magic for the three-time title winners finishing the season with seven wickets in as many matches at an economy of 8.36. Eventually, he was released by Mumbai during the IPL trading window and will now enter the auctions. Let us now look at three times that should target the talented left-arm pacer.

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3) Kolkata Knight Riders

Kolkata Knight Riders

The Kolkata Knight Riders welcomed a new captain last season on ending their seven-year successful association with Gautam Gambhir. Tamil Nadu wicket-keeper batsman, Dinesh Karthik was appointed as the skipper amidst mixed reactions from the fans. But captaincy brought the best out of Karthik, who amassed 498 runs (including two fifties) at a strike-rate of 147.77 last season. Injuries to several star players just weeks before the 2018 season raised questions about their chances in the tournament but they answered it in style. Skipper, Dinesh Karthik guided them to a respectable third-place finish after losing the Qualifier-2 against the eventual runners-up, Sunrisers Hyderabad at home by 14 runs.

KKR suffered a major set back just a week before the 2018 IPL kick-off as they lost Mitchell Starc to leg injury Starc was bought for a whopping INR 9.8 crore at 2018 auctions only to be replaced by Englishman, Tom Curran. Also, Mitchell Johson was not at his usual best picking up just two wickets in six matches he played throughout the season. 2018 Under 19 World Cup winner and young Indian pacer, Kamlesh Nagarkoti who can clock the 140-kph mark consistently was drafted into the squad for a staggering INR 3.2 crore at the auctions but was later replaced by Karnataka pacer, Prasidh Krishna as he suffered a Foot injury seven days into the tournament.

Prasidh was really impressive throughout, picking up 10 wickets in seven matches (best figures 4/30) but other pacers hardly complemented. With Prasidh looking good and young Shivam Mavi, Kamlesh Nagarkoti expected to come back stronger, all that KKR need is a quality overseas pacer like Mustafizur having already released the likes of Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Johnson, Tom Curran and Javon Searles.

2) Kings XI Punjab

Kings XI Punjab

Though Punjab dominated the first half of 2018 IPL, their fortunes swung the other way during later stages of the eleventh edition. Openers, KL Rahul and Chris Gayle were the star performers with the bat for Ravichandran Ashwin's men last season- with Rahul amassing 659 runs while Gayle registered 368 runs. Others including Aaron Finch, David Miller and star Indian players failed miserably with the bat, which exposed the beleaguered Punjab middle order. In the bowling department, except Andrew Tye, Mujeeb Ur Rahman and Ankit Rajput every other bowler failed to make a mark.

Tye finished as the highest wicket-taker of 2018 IPL with 24 scalps in 14 matches and was awarded the Purple cap for his heroics with the ball, while Afghan teenager, Mujeeb took 14 wickets in 11 matches. Among the plethora of Indian bowlers, only Ankit Rajpoot performed well picking up 11 wickets in eight games. Other notable bowlers who failed to live up to the expectations (Mohit Sharma and Barinder Sran) have been released by the Mohali-based franchise ahead of the auctions.

Talented Aussie bowler, Ben Dwarshius who did not play even a game last season has also been released. Hence, Andrew Tye and Ankit Rajpoot are the only pacers present in the squad currently. This might prompt Punjab to go for a quality and proven pacer like Mustarfizur Rahman to strengthen their armour. With four overseas and eleven Indian players slots available, they need to recruit pacers who can complement well with Tye and Rajpoot. The Bangladeshi pacer might be an exact fit for the Kings XI if they could try and get his services.

1) Royal Challengers Bangalore

Royal Challengers Bangalore

The Royal Challengers Bangalore once again found themselves unfortunate to have missed out on the IPL title in the season eleven, in spite of having a good squad. They managed six wins out their fourteen league matches last season, thereby finishing sixth in the eight-team standings. They could have made the 2018 IPL playoffs, had they won their final group fixture against Ajinkya Rahane's men at the Sawai Man Singh Stadium in Jaipur. Unfortunately, champion batsman Virat Kohli has to wait for another year to lay the hands on the glittering IPL trophy.

RCB traded Proteas wicket-keeper batsman, Quinton de Kock (INR 2.8 crore) in the IPL trading window to Mumbai Indians and batsman Mandeep Singh to Kings XI Punjab. But the arrival of Aussie, Marcus Stoinis won't add much fire-power to their squad. Stoinis recorded an economy of 10.90 last season picking three wickets and scoring 99 runs in seven matches for Punjab. All-rounders Corey Anderson, Chris Woakes and Colin de Grandhomme let them down with unimpressive performances throughout the 2018 IPL- failing with the bat as well as leaking too many runs, especially in the death overs.

Anderson gave 58 runs in 3.4 overs and managed just two runs with the bat in one of the league matches against Chennai Super Kings at home, as Virat's men lost by five wickets even after posting 205/8 in 20 overs in that high-voltage fixture. Their bowlers failed to complement the batsman, who did a fantastic job to prove the tagline of 'IPL's batting powerhouse' right. In Yuzvendra Chahal, Washington Sundar, Pawan Negi and Moeen Ali they have ample quality spinners but the pace department needs some major changes. Umesh Yadav provided major breakthroughs throughout the season (20 wickets) and Tim Southee, though at his wicket-taking best was good at the death overs. Barring these two players, almost every RCB bowler failed to control runs at the death as they were taken apart in many of the games last season. A quality death-over specialist like Mustafizur Rahman who is extremely good at pace variations, yorkers, cutters and back-of-the-hand slower deliveries might just be what the doctor ordered for the RCB having already released Anderson and Woakes.