The sudden exclusion of Bangladesh fast bowler Mustafizur Rahman from the upcoming Indian Premier League 2026 (IPL 2026) has created a major controversy and now questions have been raised on the role and political interference of the IPL Governing Council.
Mustafizur Rahman controversy: Has politics overshadowed the IPL Governing Council process?
There has been a storm regarding IPL and this time it is a matter of power, politics and a decision which crushed the tradition of transparency in Indian cricket. It is being said that BCCI decided to drop Mustafizur Rahman from the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) IPL 2026 squad without following any formal procedure due to political pressure.
The IPL Governing Council, which is supposed to oversee such matters, was not consulted at all. Even senior BCCI members and people closely associated with the league were not consulted and came to know about the decision only after it was revealed in the media.
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There were massive demands from fans and Shiv Sena and BJP leaders to ban Bangladesh players from the IPL and other leagues where the teams are owned by Indian league franchise owners. After intense criticism and campaigns, BCCI took this shocking decision.
BCCI kept KKR and IPL Governing Council in the dark?
It is being said that the call to force KKR to release Mustafizur was made at the top level of BCCI. There was no official meeting, no vote and no collective decision before taking such a big step, which only added fuel to the fire and raised questions on the role of the IPL GC.
“We came to know about it through the media ourselves. There was no discussion. No suggestions were taken from our side,” a top BCCI official, who is also associated with the IPL, was quoted as saying by The Indian Express.
However, BCCI Secretary Devjit Saikia has not yet reacted to this explosive claim of his colleague. Earlier, Saikia, while speaking to ANI, explained about the controversial move: “Due to the recent ongoing developments, BCCI has directed franchise KKR to release one of its players, Bangladesh’s Mustafizur Rahman, from its squad.”
Also read: “ICC should…”: Harbhajan Singh’s blunt opinion on Bangladesh’s request to shift T20 World Cup 2026 matches
Political context: beyond cricket
This move of BCCI has had serious consequences beyond the IPL. Bangladesh has refused to travel to India for the ICC T20 World Cup 2026 next month. Later, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting of Bangladesh imposed a complete ban on the telecast of IPL matches in the country, stating that the forced removal of Mustafizur had deeply hurt public sentiment and angered its citizens.
Relations between India and Bangladesh were already under strain and this episode has worsened the situation. Bangladesh women’s tour of India has been postponed indefinitely, while Indian men’s tour of Bangladesh is now in serious doubt.
In recent weeks, relations between the two countries have deteriorated after a Hindu man was beaten to death and burnt to death in Bangladesh on blasphemy charges. India officially condemned the ongoing hostilities against Hindu minorities in Bangladesh.