After the immense speculation surrounding Mustafizur Rahman’s availability for the Kolkata Knight Riders and the anti-Bangladesh sentiment ruining their plans, the BCCI has finally broken the silence on Rahman’s participation in the IPL.
Going into the IPL 2026 mini-auction, the Kolkata Knight Riders had the biggest purse of the auction, which meant that they could buy any player in the auction. They went on to buy Mustafizur Rahman as their third most expensive player in the mini-auction, despite having bought Cameron Green and Matheesha Pathirana in the auction.
The current situation in Bangladesh and the intolerance towards Hindus has left the Indian Hindus infuriated, and an anti-Bangladesh campaign has been on the rise in India. The political and social controversies have taken an ugly shape and affected the game of cricket as well.
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BCCI issues verdict on stance against Bangladesh players
After Mustafizur Rahman was signed as the only Bangladesh player in the IPL 2026 mini-auction, the bidding team, Kolkata Knight Riders, have been constantly receiving threats and warnings over not letting him feature in any of the games.
With the anti-Bangladesh movement growing larger and people demanding the ban of Bangladesh players from the IPL, much like the Pakistan players since 2009, the BCCI’s verdict was eagerly awaited on the issue.
The BCCI has, however, given a no-nonsense verdict, claiming that they have not been informed of taking any such step by the Indian government, and such decisions are not limited only to the BCCI. There has clearly been no directive on preventing the participation of Bangladesh players in the IPL.
A BCCI source, responding to the issue, told IANS, “Let’s not get into this. It is not in our hands. We have not received any communication from the government directing us to prevent Bangladesh players from participating in the IPL… Can’t comment much as of now.”
Mustafizur Rahman’s signing hurt the religious sentiments of Sanatani Hindus
Other than several political leaders of the BJP government who made several vile remarks on KKR and their owner, Shah Rukh Khan, and also labelled him as a ‘traitor’ for having Mustafizur Rahman on the side, some other religious pundits have also stepped into the matter.
Spiritual guru Devkinandan Thakur criticised the KKR team and co-owner Shah Rukh Khan, saying that they have hurt the religious sentiments of Hindus and the followers of the Sanatan Dharma. These claims have surfaced based on the cruel sight of slaughter and the killing of the innocent lives of Hindus in the neighbouring country.
Though many have once again emphasized that sport should remain out of political conflicts, these are considered under humanitarian grounds, and much like Pakistan, the Bangladesh people should be handed the same treatment, according to many political leaders and also the common public of India.
Mustafizur Rahman’s IPL career in a glimpse
Mustafizur Rahman, on the contrary, is one of the finest ever pacers produced by Bangladesh. Rahman has played in the IPL for over 8 seasons after having made his debut back in 2016 with the Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Since then, he has played for the Mumbai Indians in 2018, the Rajasthan Royals in 2021, the Delhi Capitals between 2022 and 2023 and finally for the Chennai Super Kings in 2024. He returned to the Delhi Capitals the previous season, replacing Australian batsman Jake Fraser-McGurk.
Having played 60 matches in the IPL, Mustafizur Rahman has picked a total of 65 wickets and is a veteran of 250+ international games; hence, the whopping INR 9.20 crores suits his standards.
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