Mumbai Indians have roped in Mujeeb Ur Rahman to replace fellow Afghanistan spinner Allah Ghazanfar for their IPL 2025 campaign. The five-time champions announced the same on their official social media handle on February 16, Sunday. According to the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB), the 17-year-old was ruled out due to a fracture in the L4 vertebra, specifically in the left pars interarticularis.
Ghazanfar, who has played a critical role in Afghanistan's rise in limited-overs cricket in the last few months, fetched a hefty โน4.80 crore in the IPL 2025 auction. The youngster was also signed up by the Kolkata Knight Riders as a replacement player last season but did not get a game. In 19 T20 matches, he has 30 scalps at 13.50. Mujeeb, meanwhile, has plied his trade in the IPL for the Knight Riders, SunRisers Hyderabad and Punjab Kings. He has bagged 330 wickets in 300 T20s.
Mumbai Indians finished 10th in IPL 2024:
Meanwhile, the Mumbai-based franchise had a season to forget last year as they finished in the bottom of the points table with four wins in 14 games. With the franchise replacing Rohit Sharma and appointing Hardik Pandya as skipper, their fan base was quite upset.
Pandya's form across facets also took a hit and the team failed to perform to its potential. Although Mumbai Indians hold the record for winning the joint-most IPL titles, they last won it in 2020. Having finished at the bottom of the table, Mumbai Indians also replaced Mark Boucher as a coach with Mahela Jayawardene.
