BCB Extends Mustafizur Rahman's IPL Stay For CSK vs PBKS Clash

New Delhi [India], April 16 (ANI): The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) has extended Mustafizur Rahman's No-Objection Certificate (NOC) for the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) by one day. Instead of returning to Bangladesh on April 30, he will also be available for the team's May 1 match against the Punjab Kings (PBKS). With this, Mustafizur is now eligible for CSK's back-to-back games against the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) on April 19 and 23, Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) on April 28, and the PBKS on May 1. Mustafizur will thereafter travel back to his hometown for Bangladesh's home T20I series against Zimbabwe from May 3 to 12, followed by a T20I series against the United States of America in Texas on May 21.

"We had given Mustafizur a leave to play in the IPL till April 30, but since Chennai has a match on May 1, we have extended his leave by a day upon receiving a request from Chennai and the BCCI," Shahriar Nafees, BCB's deputy manager of cricket operations, said, as quoted by ESPNcricinfo.

Bangladesh' Mustafizur has taken ten wickets at 18.30 in five matches, including his maiden four-wicket haul in the ongoing 17th edition of the IPL so far. This is his greatest performance in the IPL since the 2021 season, when he played for the Rajasthan Royals (RR).

The left-arm seamer was in Dhaka last week to complete US visa formalities for the upcoming T20 World Cup.

The wickets have come at the right time for the left-arm pacer, who had lost his position in the Bangladesh ODI selection after collecting just two wickets in the T20I series against Sri Lanka.

Mustafizur, however, is Bangladesh's most successful bowler in T20Is, with a confirmed berth in the T20 World Cup squad. (ANI)