Super Kings Player Tracker: One CSK bowler has just left for the national ODI squad, and now another is making noise. Anshul Kamboj was called up to replace the injured Prasidh Krishna for the third ODI against West Indies, and now Mukesh Choudhary has a five-for. Follow both on the Super Kings Player Tracker: Kamboj's updates and Mukesh's updates.
Hello Yellow Army, our batters haven't set the scoreboard on fire lately. Ruturaj Gaikwad finished unbeaten on 13 and 31 in the West Indies ODIs, Sanju Samson was bowled for 7 in the Asian Games semi-final, and Sarfaraz Khan, the Rest of India vice-captain, got a start but was out for 45 off 97 balls in this same Irani Cup match. But here's one to smile about, from our bowler. Mukesh Choudhary has picked up a five-wicket haul for Rest of India against Jammu and Kashmir in the Irani Cup at Srinagar.
In J&K's first innings, Mukesh finished with 5/78 in 19 overs as the Ranji champions were all out for 278, a lead of 41 over Rest of India's 237. Half the wickets in the innings were his.
His five wickets were Qamran Iqbal (24), Shubham Pundir (1), Shubham Khajuria (4), Kanhaiya Wadhawan (12) and, most importantly, captain Paras Dogra for 75. Dogra had stayed at the crease for 143 balls and was holding J&K together, so that was the big breakthrough.
The scorecard
| Rest of India bowler | Overs | Runs | Wickets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mukesh Choudhary | 19 | 78 | 5 |
| Akash Deep | 14.2 | 43 | 3 |
| Mukesh Kumar | 17 | 84 | 2 |
J&K were in trouble early, 37/4 after 11.2 overs, before Abdul Samad (57) and Paras Dogra (75) added 101 for the fifth wicket. Once Samad and then Wadhawan and Mushtaq fell, they were 166/8, and when Dogra went to Mukesh at 230/9, it looked like the innings was over.
But Lone Nasir Muzaffar had other ideas. He added 64 with Dogra for the ninth wicket, then hit out in the last-wicket partnership: 48 runs in just 28 balls, of which Muzaffar made 38 off 23 (Sunil Kumar's contribution was 2 off 7). Muzaffar's 64 off 58 balls, with eight fours and three sixes, took J&K from 230/9 to 278. That mattered a lot: Rest of India had made 237 in their first innings, so those last-wicket runs turned a small deficit into a first-innings lead of 41 for J&K.
The honest bit
Let's not get carried away. A five-for is great, but Rest of India still trail by 41 runs after the first innings, so the match is not in their pocket. Their 237 wasn't enough, and J&K added 112 runs for the last two wickets after being 166/8. The batters now have to put things right in the second innings, and Sarfaraz especially. As vice-captain, he has to bat long and play the kind of big domestic innings he is known for.
So it's the bowler doing his job this time, and the batters have some catching up to do.
Why CSK fans should be happy
In our CSK Squad Update, we had mentioned that Mukesh got only one wicket in West Zone's Duleep Trophy quarter-final loss. So going from one wicket to five, and leading the attack this time, is a very good sign.
In IPL 2026, Mukesh played 8 matches for CSK and took 8 wickets at an economy of 8.89: decent, but not special (see his player page). A five-for like this is exactly what he needed.
The bigger boost could be at the nets. He's a left-arm quick, and CSK's new head coach Zaheer Khan is one of India's finest left-arm seamers ever. Learning from a legend every day should only help, and India always need a good left-arm pace option, so a national call-up wouldn't surprise me. Let's see.
We'll keep updating his tracker entry as the match goes on.
Stay healthy stay yellow.