BCB refuses NOC for Mustafizur Rahman, says no communication from IPL or DC

Delhi Capitals on Wednesday, May 14, announced the signing of Bangladesh pacer Mustafizur Rahman. He replaced Jake Fraser-McGurk, who opted out of the tournament, citing personal reasons. Meanwhile, DC signed Mustafizur for INR 6 crore, which is unusual for a replacement player, especially someone who won’t play more than six matches.

In a few hours, the scenario completely changed when Mustafizur shared a photo of his travelling to UAE for the two-match series, which will conclude on May 19 - two days after IPL’s restart. The drama didn’t quite end there as BCB CEO Nizamuddin Chowdhury informed that neither IPL nor DC management reached out to them over NOC. He further added that the pacer hasn’t informed them as well.

“Mustafizur is supposed to go with the team to the UAE according to the schedule. We have not received any communication from IPL officials. I have also not received any such official communication from Mustafizur either,” Chowdhury told ESPNcricinfo on Wednesday.

Notably, Delhi are yet to comment on the development. The idea behind Mustafizur’s signing was to replace Mitchell Starc, who is very likely to be missing the IPL playoffs, if not the entire final leg. The availability of Faf du Plessis and Tristan Stubbs is also under the scanner. Stubbs has been called up for the World Test Championship (WTC) final squad, and South Africa head coach Shukri Conrad initially mentioned that the NOCs won’t be provided post May 25.

Since then, the BCCI authorities and the franchise have been in constant touch with Cricket South Africa. Even though nothing is official but the South African players can be allowed, given that six Indian franchises are part of the SA20.