Bangaldesh pacer Mustafizur Rahman, who was picked up by the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) at the Indian Premier League (IPL 2026) auction for a whopping INR 9.2 crores, has now been unceremoniously released from the side. Mustafizur will be forced to miss out on his big payday after the BCCI intervened and asked KKR to take the necessary step due to political tension between the nations and a social media uproar in the country.
Following the development, Fizz has now broken his silence on the recent snub. A dejected Mustafizur was quoted as saying by Bdcrictime,
“What else can you do if you are dropped?”
In the interim, the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) is having an emergency meeting to decide their future stance after Mustafizur incident. Reports further suggest that the BCB is now contemplating approaching the ICC for a change in venue for next year’s T20 World Cup 2026, slated to be co-hosted by India and Sri Lanka. Notably, the Bangla Tigers play three out of their four group stage matches in Kolkata followed by one in Mumbai.
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KKR were in dire need of a quality overseas pacer for the next season, especially after letting go of Anrich Nortje and Spencer Johnson. The three-time champions decided to invest the big bucks on Mustafizur to fill in the role but his exclusion now means KKR will have a task cut-out to find a suitable replacement. Fizz was a reliable option given his extensive experience in the IPL, where he has played across five franchises (Mumbai Indians, Delhi Capitals, Sunrisers Hyderabad, Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings), picking 65 scalps in 60 games at an average of 20.9. While KKR also roped in Matheesha Pathirana, Fizz’s void is a big one and KKR will need to lock in another name soon.
While all quality ones are already sold, amongst the ones available who can be a likely replacement option are England pacers Richard Gleeson and Gus Atkinson alongside Kiwi quick Will O’Rourke.
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