Mustafizur gets the nod, arrives in India for IPL

On Tuesday, the Bangladesh pacer took to social media to announce about his arrival in India. "Off to India for the IPL," Mustafizur wrote on his Facebook page.

Mustafizur Rahman on the flight to Hyderabad.

After much dilly-dallying, the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB), as expected, has allowed medium pacer Mustafizur Rahman to participate in the Indian Premier League (IPL).

On Tuesday, the Bangladesh pacer took to social media to announce about his arrival in India. "Off to India for the IPL," Mustafizur wrote on his Facebook page.

Sportstar was the first to report that the Bangladesh pacer would be missing out on the first few games of the IPL as he was waiting for an approval from the Bangldesh Cricket Board to fly down to India.

While that news got the fans and cricket fraternity in Bangladesh divided on whether the Board should allow the pacer to play in the star-studded league, BCB officials maintained their silence.

That stalemate continued till last week, when Sunrisers Hyderabad player Moises Henriques told reporters that the team had no idea about when the Bangladesh player would join the side.

“Mustafizur is arriving tonight and is available for selection. Who he will replace will not be decided until tomorrow. But more than likely he is fit and available unless something happens overnight.” Tom Moody, Sunrisers Hyderabad coach

Earlier, SRH coach Tom Moody had said Mustafizur would join the camp after the first match. That didn't happen. Instead of travelling to Hyderabad, the pacer was asked to fly back to Bangladesh once the Sri Lanka tour got over last week.

However, Sportstar has reliably learnt that the Bangladesh Board gave a go-ahead to the pacer only after it was satisfied with his fitness. While his compatriot Shakib-al Hasan had directly joined the Kolkata Knight Riders camp on Friday, Mustafizur was asked to fly back home after a hectic tour of Sri Lanka, to assess his conditions.

Sources close to the development confirmed that both Shakib and Mustafizur would, in all likelihood, skip the national team's 10-day training camp in Sussex, which is slated to begin in the last week of April. Shakib and Mustafizur will directly the join the team in Ireland for the tri-series featuring the host and New Zealand, beginning on May 12. That makes it certain that both the players would be missing the final leg of the IPL.

While there is still no clarity on how long Mustafizur will play for the Sunrisers this season, the Hyderabad franchise will certainly be strengthened by the speedster's inclusion for the time being.