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The sudden ouster of Bangladeshi pacer Mustafizur Rahman from the upcoming Indian Premier League 2026 (IPL 2026) has sparked a major controversy, and questions have now been raised over the role and political interference of the IPL board.
Mustafizur Rahman Row: Have politics taken over the IPL board process?
A storm has erupted around the IPL, and this time it’s about power, politics and a decision that has crushed Indian cricket’s tradition of transparency. The BCCI is said to have only responded to the call to remove Mustafizur Rahman from the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) IPL 2026 squad without following any formal process, following political pressure.
The IPL board, which is supposed to oversee these matters, was not consulted at all. Even senior BCCI executives and those closely linked to the league were not taken into consideration, and they only learned of the decision after it surfaced in the media.
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There has been a massive demand from fans, Shiv Sena and BJP leaders to ban Bangladeshi players from the IPL and other leagues where teams are owned by Indian league franchise owners. Following intense criticism and campaigning, the BCCI responded to this shocking call.
Did the BCCI keep KKR and the IPL board in the dark?
The call to force KKR to release Mustafizur is said to have been made at the highest level of the BCCI. There were no official meetings, no votes and no collective decision-making before such a massive step was taken, which only added fuel to the fire and called into question the role of IPL GC.
A senior BCCI official, who is also associated with the IPL, told The Indian Express: “We ourselves came to know about this through the media. There was no discussion. No suggestion was taken from us.”
But BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia is yet to react to this explosive assertion by his colleague. Earlier, Saikia explained the controversial decision while speaking to ANI: “Due to the recent developments happening everywhere, the BCCI has asked the KKR franchise to release one of its players, Mustafizur Rahman of Bangladesh, from its squad.”
The political context: beyond cricket
The BCCI’s decision has already had serious consequences beyond the IPL. Bangladesh have refused to travel to India for next month’s ICC T20 World Cup 2026. Later, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting of Bangladesh imposed a complete ban on the broadcast of IPL matches in the country, stating that Mustafizur’s forced withdrawal had deeply hurt public opinion and angered its citizens.
Relations between India and Bangladesh were already tense and this episode further aggravated the situation. The Bangladesh women’s tour of India has been postponed indefinitely, while the Indian men’s planned tour of Bangladesh is now in serious doubt.
Relations between the two countries have deteriorated in recent weeks after a Hindu man was lynched and burned alive in Bangladesh following allegations of blasphemy. India has officially condemned the continuing hostility against Hindu minorities in Bangladesh.
