Bangladesh pacer Mustafizur Rahman's participation in the 18th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL 2025) season is in doubt. The left-arm pacer who replaced Jake Fraser-McGurk in the Delhi Capitals (DC) squad has apparently boarded the flight for Dubai on Wednesday, May 14 to be with the side for the upcoming two-match T20I series against UAE, despite DC picking him as a replacement player for Fraser-McGurk.
According to Cricbuzz, the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) is currently monitoring the situation prevailing around the subcontinent following the escalating cross-border tensions between India and Pakistan, which forced both boards to suspend IPL and PSL for one week. The BCB is carefully viewing the situation before coming to a concrete verdict. The BCB also does not want to get into trouble with India as well as Pakistan by coming to a final decision.
BCB in a pickle to grant NOC to Mustafizur Rahman for IPL 2025
It is to be noted that the BCB is in a pickle to give Mustafizur an NOC to play in the IPL as they could face trouble with regard to the other two players, Rishad Hossain and Nahid Rana, who are part of PSL and also picked in the Bangladesh squad for the T20I series against UAE. If the BCB issues an NOC for Mustafiur, then they will have to do the same for Rana and Hossain.
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"We are not saying that we won't let Mustafizur play in the IPL for the Delhi Capitals but at the same time, there is a thing called national commitment and he needs to fulfill that," a BCB director said on request of anonymity.
"Along with that, if we had released him in that case, what would we have done with the two cricketers who took part in PSL, as they could have asked why we were not releasing them?" he added.
"We don't want to be in a position that allows any Board to point a finger at us," he said.
Will Mustafizur Rahman play in IPL 2025 for the Capitals?
Some reports say that Mustafizur will only be released by BCB after the two-match T20 series, but another report mentions that the left-arm pacer will be released after the opening match against UAE so that he could be available for DC's next game against Gujarat Titans (GT) on May 18.
If the second scenario comes true the Bangladesh pacer will end up playing three group-stage matches for DC, while he could end up playing more if the Capitals make the playoffs stage. Currently, DC is fifth on the IPL 2025 Points Table, with 13 points from 11 games. DC has three games left to be played with GT, MI, and PBKS - all three are in contention for the IPL Playoffs.
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