Benched For Over 40 Games Across 2 Seasons, Jharkhand Seamer Monu Kumar Finally Makes IPL Debut

After being benched for almost 44 games across two and a half seasons, seamer all-rounder Monu Kumar finally was handed his IPL debut against Royal Challengers Bangalore at the Dubai International Stadium.

Monu Kumar with CSK Skipper MS Dhoni (CSK Twitter Handle)

Chennai Super Kings (CSK) trounced Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) by eight wickets to win their fourth game in season 13 of the IPL on Sunday (Oct 25). However, that was not enough for the bottom placed Dhoni-led franchise as Rajasthan Royals' dominant win over Mumbai Indians eliminated the chances of securing a play-off berth for the 3-time champions. With nothing to lose after a outing in Season 13 of the IPL, CSK fielded a couple of youngsters and uncapped players into the playing XI against Royal Challengers Bangalore in Match 44 of the league on Sunday and one of them happened to be seamer Monu Kumar. After being benched for almost 44 games across two and a half seasons, the seamer finally was handed his maiden game and IPL debut against Royal Challengers Bangalore at the Dubai International Stadium. Monu did not fare too well in his IPL outing as he conceded 20 runs off his 2 overs. Hailing from skipper MS Dhoni's native state Jharkhand, Monu Kumar was roped in by CSK in the 2018 IPL auctions at his base price of of INR 20 lakhs. After being handed his IPL debut by CSK, an ecstatic Monu had this to say "I’m excited to be picked up by CSK on my Indian Premier League debut, more so because Mahi bhaiya (MS Dhoni) is leading the side and he knows how to extract the best out of me... he knows my bowling," Monu had said after being roped in by CSK in 2018. CSK later shared the picture of Monu with the skipper and captioned it, "MS makes his debut! #WhistlePodu for namma Monu Singh! Lion faceYellow heart #Yellove #WhistleFromHome #RCBvCSK."

MS makes his debut! #WhistlePodu for namma Monu Singh! ????????#Yellove #WhistleFromHome #RCBvCSK pic.twitter.com/yr2XHgx8hK

— Chennai Super Kings (@ChennaiIPL) October 25, 2020

In line with skipper MS Dhoni's strategy to give youngsters a look in at the fag end of the tournament, Monu replaced Shardul Thakur in the playing XI as part of the two changes that CSK made for their 12th game this season with the objective of "looking at faces who haven't got chances," as explained by MS Dhoni. A Brief About Monu Kumar's Exploits In Domestic Cricket  A seam bowling allrounder, Monu plays his domestic cricket for his state Jharkhand and has picked 25 wickets at an average of 22 and an economy rate of 6.90. In the last edition of the Syed Mushtaq Ali domestic T20 tournament, Monu picked 10 wickets in nine games. Monu was also part of the India U-19 World Cup squad for the 2014 edition of the tournament.