Why is Mustafizur Rahman not playing today's SRH vs CSK IPL 2024 match?

Chennai Super Kings (CSK) pacer Mustafizur Rahman is a short-term absentee for the franchise and he does not make it to the playing XI for the contest against SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) on Friday.

Mustafizur has been an integral part of CSK's team in the early stages of the tournament. He is the joint-highest wicket-taker along with Mohit Sharma, with seven wickets apiece so far.

Filling for the injured Matheesha Pathirana in the season opener against the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), the Bangladesh seamer put in a match-winning display. He ended with figures of 4-29, restricting RCB to 173-6, which CSK proceeded to chase down comfortably.

Reports of Mustafizur Rahman arriving in Bangladesh to complete his US Visa formalities for the T20 World Cup had made the rounds, and the same was confirmed later on, causing him to miss the match against SRH, and potentially even the next one for CSK.

CSK skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad officially stated that Mustafizur was not part of the playing XI

"So far, so good. We lost the last game. Everyone is a good head space. For me, nothing changes. I have done captaincy before. New setup, new challenges, big stage, I just want to take it forward how I want to take it. Fizz is absent and Pathirana has a slight niggle also," Ruturaj Gaikwad said after SRH opted to bowl first

CSK are on the lookout to get back to winning ways following the defeat to the Delhi Capitals (DC) recently. They have a dominant record over SRH, with 14 wins out of 19 attempts.

Who has replaced Mustafizur Rahman in CSK's playing XI?

CSK's pace department has really taken a hit as Matheesha Pathirana is also not part of the playing XI. The franchise have accordingly made the changes, including an extra spinner as well, which was not the case for the last couple of matches.

As far as Mustafizur solely is concerned, his role is likely to be taken up by his like-to-like replacement in left-arm pacer Mukesh Choudhary. The pacer was a prominent feature for the team in the 2022 season, but missed out on the 2023 edition due to injury.

As far as the other changes are concerned, Moeen Ali and Maheesh Theeksana have also made it to the playing XI for CSK.

Chennai Super Kings (Playing XI): Ruturaj Gaikwad(c), Rachin Ravindra, Ajinkya Rahane, Moeen Ali, Daryl Mitchell, Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, MS Dhoni(w), Deepak Chahar, Tushar Deshpande, Maheesh Theekshana

Sunrisers Hyderabad (Playing XI): Abhishek Sharma, Aiden Markram, Heinrich Klaasen(w), Abdul Samad, Nitish Reddy, Shahbaz Ahmed, Pat Cummins(c), Jaydev Unadkat, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mayank Markande, T Natarajan