Rajasthan Royals will miss the services of Bangladesh pacer, Mustafizur Rahman or the first two matches in the IPL 2021. Rahman, who is with the Bangladesh squad in New Zealand, did not play in the last two T20I matches. However, he will be with the team till Sunday, April 4 before he leaves for India. Hence, when he reaches India on April 5, he will have to spend a mandatory seven-day quarantine, ruling him out of the first match against Punjab Kings on April 12. Bangladesh Cricket Board’s Senior Manager, Media & Communications, Rabeed Imam told InsideSport.co that Mustafizur will be with the team till April 4. “He has not yet left for India. He is with the team and will only leave with the team on Sunday,” Imam said.
On the other hand, if he joins Rajasthan Royals camp after quarantining for a week, he could also miss out on the 2nd match against Delhi Capitals on March 15 in Mumbai. Earlier, the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) had provided him a No Objection Certificate (NOC) for the tournament in India. In the auction back in February, Rajasthan Royals (RR) roped in the Satkhira-born speedster at his base price of INR 1 crore. The 25-year-old isn’t a part of the Test series against Sri Lanka that gets underway on April 21. Previously, Mustafizur said that he was ready to skip the IPL and would prioritize his country. Last year, the pacer was denied a NOC as the BCB only allowed its players to take part in two franchise-based T20 tournaments in a year. “My first priority is to play for my country and if I am picked in the Test series against Sri Lanka, I will naturally play. If I am not picked then BCB will tell me that I am not included. At that point, if I am given NOC to play in the IPL then I will play but patriotism comes first for me,” Mustafizur had said.
