The Bangladesh Cricket Board has cancelled the No-Objection Certificates for left-arm seamer Mustafizur Rahman and young quick Nahid Rana, ruling both out of the closing stages of this season’s Pakistan Super League. The pair had been turning out for Lahore Qalandars and Peshawar Zalmi before flying home for the current one-day series against New Zealand.
Mustafizur, 30, is again troubled by the right-knee niggle that has followed him for much of his career. He sat out the opening two ODIs, then returned with a five-for in Chattogram, only to pull up sore afterwards. A short BCB note laid out the immediate plan: “It has been decided that the player [Mustafizur] will undergo an immediate scan to further assess his condition,” the statement read, “after which he will commence a rehabilitation programme under the supervision of the BCB medical team. In this regard, the board has withdrawn the No Objection Certificate (NOC) previously issued to Mustafizur. He will therefore not be available to participate in the remainder of PSL 2026.”
Rana’s situation is less dramatic. At 21 he is bowling quickly and the selectors are keen not to overload him before a busy stretch that includes May’s two-Test trip to Pakistan. He, Mustafizur and senior seamer Taskin Ahmed have all been rested from the first two T20Is against New Zealand next week, the board citing ‘workload management’.
Numbers from the PSL suggest the call is precautionary rather than performance-related. Rana collected seven wickets in four outings at 5.42 runs per over, including a lively four-for in Rawalpindi. Mustafizur’s six strikes in five games came at 7.17, respectable on placid early-season decks.
Bangladesh’s medical staff will decide over the next fortnight whether Mustafizur can be cleared for June’s white-ball fixtures at home to Australia. Rana, meanwhile, is pencilled in for red-ball duties only, a sign that the hierarchy already view him as a long-term prospect.
For Lahore and Peshawar the withdrawals are a blow – overseas fast bowling is never easy to replace – yet neither franchise is surprised. One Zalmi official admitted off the record that Bangladesh’s juggling act “was always on the cards once the New Zealand tour dates were locked in”.
Fans hoping for a late rethink should not hold their breath. By the time the PSL play-offs arrive both bowlers will either be rehabbing in Dhaka or counting down to Pakistan, and Bangladesh’s planners will be content if they stay that way.
