KKR had to release Mustafizur in January, and now he is one of seven Bangladesh players in the IPL auction pool
The BCB says Mustafizur Rahman, Nahid Rana and five others have entered the 16 December mini-auction in Goa. The BCCI has said nothing, and the franchises want clarity first.
Nov 13, 2026
Ten months after the BCCI told Kolkata Knight Riders to let Mustafizur Rahman go, he is back in the IPL auction pool. The Bangladesh Cricket Board says Mustafizur and six other Bangladesh players have registered for the IPL 2027 mini-auction in Goa on 16 December.
Shahriar Nafees, who heads cricket operations at the BCB, played it down. He told India Today it was “a regular procedure” before every auction, and that the BCCI had reached out to every board for the names of players who wanted to enter.
The other six are Nahid Rana, Rishad Hossain, Hasan Mahmud, Towhid Hridoy, Taskin Ahmed and Shoriful Islam. Five of the seven are seamers. Rishad is a leg-spinner and Hridoy the only specialist batter. Registration stays open until 23 November, so the list could still grow, and the final auction register is due on 3 December.
How the door closed in January
Mustafizur was bought by KKR for ₹9.20 crore at the auction in December 2025, the most any franchise had paid for a Bangladesh player. He never played a game for them. On 3 January the BCCI asked KKR to release him, with secretary Devajit Saikia citing “recent developments” and nothing more. Indian outlets tied it to criticism of KKR over signing a Bangladesh player while reports of attacks on Hindus in Bangladesh were circulating. KKR complied the same day and were allowed a replacement.
It did not end there. The BCB refused to send its team to India for the T20 World Cup and asked the ICC to move its games to Sri Lanka. The ICC said there was no credible or verifiable security threat, turned the request down, and on 24 January put Scotland in Bangladesh’s place.
Registered is not signed
The BCCI has not commented in public. Its sources declined to comment and said the final call sits with the franchises, according to Outlook India, and several team officials said they would rather wait for more clarity before they decide anything.
That caution is understandable. No franchise wants to be the next KKR, buying a player and then being told to drop him. Registering only gets a player into the pool, and the shortlist comes later. Teams have until 17 November to name their retentions, so nobody yet knows how many overseas slots will be open.
Still, the invitation going out at all looks like the first sign of a thaw since January. Officials from both are in Bali this week for the ICC’s meetings, and Outlook reported that the subject could come up there.
If someone does bid, Mustafizur is the obvious one. He first played in the IPL in 2016, when Sunrisers Hyderabad won the title and he was named the season’s Emerging Player, and his cutters have always suited slow Indian pitches. Nahid Rana is the wildcard. He has been clocked at 152kph, the fastest on record for a Bangladesh bowler.