Can ‘warrior’ Fizz channel CSK sizzle to national colours?  

Mustafizur Rahman, Bangladesh's sole representative in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL), kept delivering the goods till his final outing for holders Chennai Super Kings (CSK), pouring cold water over the consensus that the left-arm pacer can no longer take his place for granted in the national team.

Against Punjab in a seven-wicket defeat at the Chepauk on Wednesday, Mustafizur "the Fizz" impressed despite going wicketless for the first time this edition. He showcased his miserly side, conceding under six runs per over in four overs and, in the process, bowling a rare maiden over – the sixth instance and the first by a foreign recruit in the ongoing edition.

Starting with a four-for in the competition's curtain-raiser, the Fizz ended his campaign with team-high 14 wickets, second overall behind Mumbai Indians' Jasprit Bumrah who tops the chart due to a superior average.

Moreover, the 28-year-old displayed variations in his arsenal apart from the go-to off-cutters: the ability to bowl seam-up and getting the ball to move into the right-hander, among others.  

Mustafizur, whose NOC expired yesterday owing to the five-match home T20I series against Zimbabwe, beginning today, had sparked a club-versus-country debate with the T20 World Cup fast-approaching in June.

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'Mustafizur has nothing to learn from IPL'

However, for Mustafizur, the nine matches he played for Chennai worked wonders in recovering from a lean patch he had experienced in national colours earlier this year -- evidenced by his lacklustre show in the three T20I against Sri Lanka in Sylhet in March where he tallied just two wickets for a staggering 131 runs.

Esteemed coach and analyst, Nazmul Abedeen Fahim, perhaps hit the nail on the head on Mustafizur's turnaround, saying, "Psychology has a complex relationship with cricket performance."

 "A warrior has nothing if he loses faith in himself. And CSK has enabled Mustafiz in regaining lost self-belief," Fahim wrote on his Facebook page following the Chennai-Punjab clash.

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Minimalist Mustafizur only watches death overs

Now that form is not an issue for Mustafizur, it remains to be seen whether the country's all-time second-top wicket-taker in T20Is will be back to being irreplaceable or play second fiddle to the Tigers' pace battery.