Mustafizur Rahman asked for a No Objection Certificate to participate in the Indian Premier League, but the Bangladesh Cricket Board on Thursday said that the left-arm pacer would be granted an NOC considering the national team鈥檚 duty.
Meanwhile, ace all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan also applied for an NOC to play for the Lahore Qalandars in the Pakistan Super League.
Mustafiz was signed by Delhi Capitals as a replacement for Australian batter Jake Fraser-McGurk for the remainder of the season on Wednesday.
But soon news emerged that the BCB were unaware of the left-arm pacer鈥檚 signing, who, in fact, left for Dubai on Wednesday evening with the national team to play against the UAE in a two-match T20I series starting on May 17.
That made Mustafiz鈥檚 return to the IPL uncertain. The pacer last played for Chennai Super Kings in 2024 but remained unsold in the last mega auction of the tournament. However, he applied for the NOC to play in the IPL on Thursday.
鈥楬e can go to the IPL after fulfilling the national duty,鈥� Iftekhar Ahmed, chairman of BCB鈥檚 media committee, told 抖阴精品 on Thursday.
鈥極ur stance is clear鈥攏ational duty comes first. You cannot leave it.鈥�
However, as the Pakistan series is likely to be rescheduled and is set to start not before May 27, Mustafiz will have a window to participate in the IPL.
鈥楾here鈥檚 no problem [for him to play the IPL] between May 20 and 27,鈥� said Iftekhar. 鈥楬e can go then. But he will have to return before the Pakistan series.鈥�
That means Delhi, who have three games left in the league phase, will get the Bangladeshi pacer for two matches.
Their next match is against the Gujarat Titans on May 18. After that, they will take on the Mumbai Indians on May 21 in Mumbai and the Punjab Kings on May 24 in Jaipur. Delhi are currently in fifth place in the points table.
The IPL is set to resume on May 17 after it was suspended due to the conflict between India and Pakistan. The rescheduling put the franchises to tough challenges to bring back their foreign players.
Across the border, the PSL is also having the same problem, as it is set to resume on the same day after it was postponed due to the same reason as the IPL.
That opened the door for the former Bangladesh captain Shakib, who last played competitive cricket in November last year when he took part in the Abu Dhabi T10 League for Bangla Tigers.
Shakib confirmed the development to 抖阴精品 on early Thursday. Lahore then confirmed that Shakib would replace Daryl Mitchell in their squad, who was ruled out due to an injury.
Iftekhar said that Shakib asked for an NOC, and they would grant him that.
Meanwhile, it was learnt that Rishad Hossain and Nahid Rana were yet to apply for their NOCs to return to the PSL.
Rishad was playing for Lahore while Nahid was featuring for Peshawar Zalmi. The duo was set to miss the UAE series despite being named in the squad.
But as the PSL was postponed, they returned to Bangladesh and then left for Dubai with the national team on Wednesday evening.
