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Delhi Capitals on Wednesday replaced Australian batter Jake-Fraser McGurk with Bangladesh left-arm seamer Mustafizur Rahman, as the former could not rejoin the team for the remainder of IPL 2025 after returning home due to the ongoing India-Pakistan hostilities.
Fraser-McGurk`s release won`t hurt DC as he was dropped after the first six games in which he tallied only 55 runs. Also, if Mitchell Starc doesn`t come, as is widely anticipated, then Mustafizur`s left-arm seam bowling, with expertise in death overs, would come in handy.
“The JSW and GMR co-owned franchise Delhi Capitals today announced the signing of Bangladesh pacer Mustafizur Rahman as a replacement for Australian opener Jake Fraser-McGurk, who will be unavailable for the remainder of the TATA IPL 2025 season,” the franchise stated in a release.
However Mustafizur, on Wednesday, flew to Dubai for Bangladesh`s two-match T20I series vs UAE and also posted the news on his official twitter handle.
Bangladesh play UAE on May 17 and 19 and if Mustafizur happens to play both games, he would only reach India on May 20. He would miss Delhi`s game against Gujarat Titans.
However, it is learnt that Mustafizur has a lucrative contract, and the franchise — Delhi Capitals in this case — is currently negotiating with the Bangladesh Cricket Board for his early release. As is customary for overseas players, the respective cricket board also receives a percentage of the contract.
McGurk and a host of other foreign players had returned to their respective countries due to the military showdown between India and Pakistan in the aftermath of the Pahalgam terror attack.
Mustafizur, who made his IPL debut in 2016, previously represented the Delhi Capitals during the 2022 and 2023 seasons.
In 2022, he picked up eight wickets in eight matches with an economy of 7.62 and in the following season, he played two matches for Delhi Capitals.
Over the course of his IPL career, the 29-year-old has played 38 matches, claiming 38 wickets at an economy rate of 7.84.
He has also turned out for multiple franchises in the league, forming a reputation of bowling effectively in all phases of an innings.
With 132 wickets in 106 T20Is for Bangladesh, Mustafizur has established himself as one of the leading left-arm pacers in white-ball cricket.
Across all T20 competitions in the domestic circuit and globally, he has taken 351 wickets in 281 matches.
Meanwhile, veteran South African keeper-batter Quinton de Kock has confirmed his availability and will rejoin the Kolkata Knight Riders squad in Bengaluru for their next IPL game, as per an ESPNCricinfo report.
It has also been learnt that Rajasthan Royals pace spearhead Jofra Archer, who sustained a thumb injury during their game against Kolkata Knight Riders, is not returning for the remaining games.
However, if sources are to be believed, the Royals being out of playoff contention meant there was little point in asking Archer to return for a few inconsequential games. The same applies to CSK, where Sam Curran is also not expected to return.
(With PTI inputs)
This article first appeared on Mid Day
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