In light of a back injury, Afghanistan offspinner Mujeeb Ur Rahman has been selected to join the Mumbai Indians’ (MI) squad for the 2025 IPL as a replacement for his fellow countryman AM Ghazanfar, who was unable to participate in both the upcoming Champions Trophy and IPL.
Earlier this week, the ACB took to Twitter to announce Ghazanfar’s absence from the Champions Trophy. The board stated that during Afghanistan’s tour of Zimbabwe last month, Ghazanfar suffered a fracture of the L4 vertebra. Unfortunately, this means that he will be unable to play cricket for four months, despite recently securing his first IPL contract due to his impressive performances in ODIs.
Mujeeb’s last appearance at the IPL was in 2021, when he played a single match for Sunrisers Hyderabad. He first debuted in the tournament for Punjab Kings at the age of 17 and continued to represent them for three seasons until 2018, playing in a total of 18 games.
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With an impressive record of 275 T20 wickets at an average of 23.67 and an economy rate of 6.75, Mujeeb has proven to be a valuable player. Most recently, he participated in SA20 as part of the Paarl Royals team, who unfortunately lost to finalists Sunrisers Eastern Cape in Qualifier 2. In this tournament, Mujeeb was the top wicket-taker for Royals with a total of 14 wickets in 12 matches and an average of 23.14.
In November of last year, Mujeeb was sidelined for five months due to a sprained right hand. Following his return to the field at the Abu Dhabi T10, he played in all three T20Is during Afghanistan’s Zimbabwe tour. He then flew to South Africa to participate in the SA20.
However, he was not selected by Afghanistan for the Champions Trophy as their interim chief selector, Ahmad Suliman Khil, stated that “his doctor has advised him to prioritize T20 matches for now in order to fully recover before returning to ODIs.”
Despite not being selected at the IPL 2025 auction, Mujeeb has now joined MI for a fee of INR 2 crore (approximately US $230,764).
