Mustafizur Rahman, who was selected by the Kolkata Knight Riders, will not be available for the full Indian Premier League because of the New Zealand series, according to a previous report from Cricbuzz.
The forthcoming series against Pakistan, which will consist of two Test matches and three One-Day Internationals, will take place in March on either side of the Pakistan Super League, a Bangladesh Cricket Board official announced on Thursday.
After playing a three-match T20I series against Bangladesh in June as part of the bilateral series, Pakistan will now just play Tests and ODIs instead of the two Tests, three ODIs, and as many T20Is that were originally scheduled for March.
According to Cricbuzz, Bangladesh suggested that Pakistan play three ODIs before to the PSL and finish the Test phase in May following the league.
Speaking to media on Wednesday, BCB cricket operation head Nazmul Abedin stated that the remaining portion of the Pakistan series must be divided into two parts: before and after the PSL.
Mustafizur will return from the IPL for eight days, according to Nazmul, and be eligible for the ODI series against New Zealand, which they are eager to win in order to qualify directly for the upcoming World Cup.
Currently ranked 10th in the ICC ODI rankings, Bangladesh has only participated in nine bilateral ODI matches in 2025 and has only managed three wins. Bangladesh needs to return to the top eight of the rankings in order to qualify directly for the 2027 ODI World Cup in South Africa.
“Mustafizur has a NOC for the duration of the IPL.
The three-match New Zealand ODI series is the only time he will play for the national side again,” Nazmul stated.
He declared, “He will return for eight days to play the ODI series,” adding that the IPL’s competitive atmosphere would enable him to play well against New Zealand in the ODIs.
“There may be a transition phase because, sure, he would be playing in a T20 atmosphere before returning to play ODIs. At the same time, he will be able to contribute more after he returns because of the level of play and the competitive atmosphere he will be in,” Nazmul remarked.
We therefore weighed the advantages and disadvantages and concluded that his presence was crucial to our needs. The rationale for this choice is that, with our current strength, his presence strengthens the team,” he stated.
“We released Mustafizur for the IPL at the time of our series loss to the UAE in the UAE, which was a very risky move. We later profited from the significant transformation that Mustafizur underwent following his IPL performance. We did lose the Twenty20 series against the United Arab Emirates on account of the risk we took. I believe we must take some chances. We must take these chances if we care about creating a bright future for ourselves, and they will eventually pay off,” he continued.
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