Mukesh Choudhary, the left-arm fast bowler from Bhilwara, Rajasthan, is making headlines with his eye-catching performances for Chennai Super Kings in IPL. He has already taken 11 wickets to fill the hole left by Deepak Chahar in CSK’s unit.
Mukesh Choudhary grew up in a small village in Rajasthan, where his grandmother used to take care of him as his father moved to Maharashtra to find a job that could fill his family’s stomach.
Following in his father’s footsteps, Mukesh also wanted to become the backbone of his family. He moved to Pune as a 13-year old with his older brother to study and acquire the knowledge and skills to get a handsome paying job.
No one from Mukesh’s family had any linkages to cricket and sports. So it was almost impossible for anyone to imagine that Mukesh Choudhary would turn out to be a splendid cricketer.
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Choudhary’s talent was first recognised by one of his colleagues at Pune Law College. He suggested Mukesh try his luck at the 22 Yards Cricket Academy. Choudhary was sceptic at first but nevertheless chose to go to the academy.
Many recognised cricketers like Kedar Jadhav, Rahul Tripathi and Ankeet Bawne, current captain of Maharashtra in domestic cricket, became fascinated with Mukesh’s left-arm pace.
At first, Mukesh had very little pace, to begin with. He worked to acquire the speed and variety in his bowling to bring out his talent. In 2017, Choudhary impressed everyone with his skills at the Redbull Campus Cricket Tournament.
Ruturaj Gaikwad also took part in that tournament and was interested in Mukesh’s bowling. He ultimately became the person to recommend Mukesh Choudhary as a net-bowler to CSK’s staff in 2021.
In Tata IPL 2022 Mega Auction, Chennai Super Kings showed their trust in Mukesh’s ability and bought him for the base price to kick off his journey at the bigger stage.
Will Mukesh Choudhary become a bowling phenomenon in future? Only time will tell, but the cricketer has it all to make it to the top of Indian cricket.
Reference: ESPN article on Mukesh Choudhary