The Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) released Mustafizur Rahman from their squad for IPL 2026 after being given a directive by BCCI on Saturday. This development came after the franchise had to face a lot of backlash over his participation in recent weeks. The 30-year-old was signed by the franchise for a mammoth fee of INR 9.2 crore, but will not be participating in the tournament. He has now finally broken his silence on the matter.
"What else can you do if you are dropped?" Mustafizur told BDcrictime.
Though there were no problems about KKR signing the player at first, the situation eventually escalated following reports of violent incidents against religious minorities in Bangladesh. The Indian authorities have expressed concern over the safety of the minorities in the country.
Saikia's take on the matteer
BCCI Secretary Devajit Saikia had said that they had advised KKR to let go of Mustafizur due to recent concerning developments in Bangladesh. He also said that the move was a preventive measur and allowed KKR to make a replacement signing on behalf of BCCI.
"Due to the recent developments that are going on all across, BCCI has instructed the franchise KKR to release one of their players, Mustafizur Rahman of Bangladesh, from their squad. BCCI has also said that if they ask for any replacement, BCCI is going to allow that replacement," Saikia told India Today.
KKR release official statement
The Kolkata-based franchise later went on to confirm that they had released Mustafizur through an official statement.
"Kolkata Knight Riders confirms that BCCI/IPL, as the regulator of IPL has instructed it to release Mustafizur Rahman from the squad ahead of the upcoming IPL season. The release has been carried out following due process and consultations, upon the instruction of the Board of Control of Cricket in India. BCCI will allow Kolkata Knight Riders a replacement player in line with IPL regulations, and further details will be communicated in due course," KKR said in a statement.
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KKR's squad for IPL 2026: Ajinkya Rahane, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Anukul Roy, Harshit Rana, Manish Pandey, Ramandeep Singh, Rinku Singh, Rovman Powell, Sunil Narine, Umran Malik, Vaibhav Arora, Varun Chakaravarthy, Rahul Tripathi, Finn Allen, Tejasvi Singh, Tim Seifert, Cameron Green, Sarthak Ranjan, Daksh Kamra, Prashant Solanki, Matheesha Pathirana, Kartik Tyagi, Rachin Ravindra, Akash Deep..