Mumbai Indians sign Afghanistan spinner as Allah Ghazanfar's replacement for IPL 2025

Afghanistan leg-spinner Mujeeb Ur Rahman has replaced Allah Ghazanfar in Mumbai Indians' squad for the upcoming season of the IPL. The 18-year-old suffered a vertebrae injury and following examinations, he was ruled out for four months which means he will miss the Champions Trophy 2025 and the IPL.

Allah Ghazanfar was one of the most sought-after players in the IPL auction. He travelled with KKR as a net bowler and impressed one and all, which had the three-time champions open the bidding for him. Royal Challengers Bengaluru also hopped in to acquire his signature but pulled out after the bidding crossed the ₹2 crore mark. From there on, MI and KKR were in a bidding war with the five-time champions eventually landing the player for ₹4.8 crore.

With Ghazanfar being ruled out owing to his L4 vertebrae injury, Mumbai Indians sought a replacement in fellow Afghan spinner Mujeeb Ur Rahman. The leggie last played the tournament in 2021 representing the Sunrisers Hyderabad. He played only one game that season, picking up 2/29 in his four overs. An IPL Media Advisory stated:

"Mumbai Indians picked Mujeeb-ur-Rahman as a replacement for Allah Ghazanfar for the upcoming edition of the TATA Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025. Allah Ghazanfar is ruled out of the season due to an injury. Mujeeb-ur-Rahman – a right-arm off-spinner – has played 19 IPL matches and has 19 IPL wickets against his name."

Mujeeb joins Mumbai Indians at his base price of ₹2 crore. This will be the Afghan spinner's third franchise after Punjab Kings and Sunrisers Hyderabad.

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Mumbai Indians squad for IPL 2025

After finishing dead last in the points table for only the second time in their history, Mumbai Indians retained five players — Hardik Pandya, Suryakumar Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Rohit Sharma and Tilak Varma. The five-time champions went all out for Trent Boult (₹12.5 crore) and Deepak Chahar (₹9.25 crore). MI also managed to acquire Naman Dhir for ₹5.25 crore, using the only RTM card that was available to them after retentions.

MI Squad for IPL 2025: Suryakumar Yadav, Rohit Sharma, Tilak Varma, Bevon Jacobs, Robin Minz, Ryan Rickelton, Krishnan Shrijith, Hardik Pandya (c), Naman Dhir, Will Jacks, Raj Angad Bawa, Vignesh Puthur, Karn Sharma, Mitchell Santner, Jasprit Bumrah, Deepak Chahar, Trent Boult, Ashwani Kumar, Reece Topley, Satyanarayana Raju, Arjun Tendulkar, Lizaad Williams and Mujeeb Ur Rahman