Blessing Muzarabani named as Mustafizur Rahman’s replacement?: The first upset of the 2026 T20 World Cup finally happened as Zimbabwe defeated Australia in a Group B game of the competition. In match number 19 of the tournament, Zimbabwe made a good score of 169 runs after being put to bat first. Australia, who set out to chase, fell behind by 23 runs and now the group is tied.
Chevron were at the top of their game, especially in the bowling department. Led by Blessing Muzarabani, who was the bowler of choice for the team. The left-arm pacer took 4/17 in his four overs and troubled the Australian batsmen. He started his spell by taking the wicket of Josh Inglis.
Blessing Muzarabani left Australian batsmen stunned
After this Muzarabani dismissed danger man Tim David, as Tim David returned to the pavilion without opening the account. Australia were never in a position to chase down the target, as they were struggling at 29/4 at one point. Later, Blessing Muzarabani set the wicket of Matt Renshaw, who was looking good and was dismissed for 65 off 44 balls. Muzarabani’s last wicket was that of Adam Zampa.
Kangaroo team was out for 146 runs. Brad Evans took three wickets, Wellington Masakadza and Ryan Burl took one wicket each. After Blessing Muzarabani’s sensational performance, former Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) star Srivatsa Goswami has shared his views on why KKR should pick the Zimbabwean fast bowler.
Muzarabani blessed to play for KKR?
Srivatsa Goswami said on
KKR please choose Blessing Muzarabani as their replacement bowler @KKRiders . At a base price of Rs 75 lakh, he would be ideal for the Eden Gardens pitch. #kkr #ZIMvAUS
-Shrivatsa Goswami (@Shrivatsa1) 13 February 2026
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) picked up Mustafizur Rahman for a whopping price of Rs 9.20 crore during the Tata Indian Premier League (IPL) auction 2025. However, he had to be released by the franchise due to the India-Bangladesh political conflict. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) ordered the franchise to take this step.
KKR has not yet announced the replacement for Mustafizur Rahman
This led to chaos in the 2026 T20 World Cup with Bangladesh refusing to travel to India citing security reasons, and thus sticking to their stance, Scotland replaced them.
With the Kolkata Knight Riders franchise yet to announce a replacement for Mustafizur Rahman, there is very little time left. Muzarabani, who remained unsold in the auction, may find a place for himself with the Knights.
Muzarabani has experience of playing in IPL. He previously represented Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in the 2025 edition. Muzarabani was selected as the temporary replacement for Lungi Ngidi for the remainder of the 2025 IPL season.
However, he did not get a single match for the defending champions and was released before the auction. With his left-arm angle and experience bowling the new ball and death overs, he could be an ideal replacement for Mustafizur.
With his tall height of 6 feet 8 inches, he can extract more bounce from the Eden Gardens wickets, which have been providing pace and bounce in recent times. KKR will definitely have their eyes on the T20 World Cup to find his replacement before the tournament.
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