A huge controversy has erupted around Delhi Capitals (DC) and their new replacement player, Mustafizur Rahman, as franchises struggle to regroup their overseas players ahead of the revised IPL 2025 season.

The 18th edition of IPL will resume on May 17 after the tournament was suspended due to India-Pakistan tensions at the border last week.

However, some of the overseas stars including DC’s Jake-Fraser McGurk and Mitchell Starc are unwilling to return to India for the remaining matches despite the ceasefire announcement.

Meanwhile, the BCCI has modified the replacement player rules to help the franchises create a strong overseas players pool in case of withdrawals. Under the same, DC roped in Mustafizur Rahman on Wednesday (May 14) as replacement for Jake-Fraser McGurk, who has decided against returning to India for the rest of the season.

In a shocking turn of events, Mustafizur was forced to leave for UAE to play for Bangladesh hours after signed by the Capitals. The left-arm pacer was reportedly not provided with the No Objection Certificate (NOC) by the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB).

Taking to social media, Mustafizur confirmed his departure to UAE tour as he shared a picture of him posing in the flight with the caption: “Heading to UAE to play against them. Keep me in your prayers.”

Speaking to ESPNcricinfo, BCB CEO Nizamuddin Chowdhury claimed that there was no communication by IPL over Mustafizur Rahman joining DC and that the fast bowler was already occupied with national duty.

“Mustafizur is supposed to go with the team to the UAE according to the schedule,” Chowdhury said. “We have not received any communication from IPL officials. I have also not received any such official communication from Mustafizur either.”

Bangladesh are due to play two T20Is against UAE on May 17 and 19, while DC resume their IPL 2025 campaign against Gujarat Titans on May 18.

It remains to be seen if Mustafizur Rahman will return to IPL after the UAE assignment, as Bangladesh will also feature in a five-match T20I series against Pakistan from May 25.