A back injury to Ghazanfar has led to Mujeeb’s recall into the IPL after four years
At this year’s SA20, Mujeeb Ur Rahman took 14 wickets at an average of 23.14  •  SA20
Afghanistan offspinner Mujeeb Ur Rahman has replaced his countryman AM Ghazanfar in Mumbai Indians’ (MI) squad for IPL 2025. Ghazanfar was ruled out of the Champions Trophy, which starts on Wednesday, and also the the IPL that follows, due to a back injury.
The Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) had tweeted about Ghazanfar’s absence from the Champions Trophy earlier this week, mentioning that he had sustained “a fracture of the L4 vertebra” during Afghanistan’s tour of Zimbabwe last month. Ghazanfar, who had bagged his maiden IPL contract after a bright start to his ODI career, will be out of cricket for four months.
Mujeeb was last seen at the IPL in 2021, when he played a solitary game for Sunrisers Hyderabad. He made his tournament debut as a 17-year-old for Punjab Kings and represented them in 18 games across three seasons from 2018. Mujeeb has 275 T20 wickets at an average of 23.67 and an economy rate of 6.75. Most recently, he was with Paarl Royals at at the SA20, where his side lost to finalists Sunrisers Eastern Cape in Qualifier 2. He was Royals’ highest wicket-taker in the tournament, with 14 wickets in 12 matches at an average of 23.14.
Until November last year, Mujeeb too was out injured for five months due to a right phalanx (hand) sprain. He returned to action at the Abu Dhabi T10 and then played all three T20Is for Afghanistan on their tour of Zimbabwe, before flying to South Africa for the SA20. He wasn’t picked by Afghanistan for the Champions Trophy, as according to Ahmad Suliman Khil, their interim chief selector, “he has been advised by his doctor to focus on T20s for a while to ensure his full recovery before returning to ODIs”.
Mujeeb had gone unsold at the IPL 2025 auction, but now joined MI at a fee of INR 2 crore (approx. US $230,764).
