Mohammad Kaif urges everyone to ‘play the waiting game’ over Bangladesh’s Mustafizur Rahman involvement in IPL

Sharjah: Former India cricketer Mohammad Kaif has urged everyone to play the "waiting game" on the controversy surrounding Bangladesh cricketer Mustafizur Rahman and his association with the Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR). Mustafizur Rahman has been acquired by KKR for a record Rs 9.20 crore in the IPL auction

"I am not so knowledgeable, I am sitting here in Dubai for 2-3 weeks. What will be the decision? Everything comes under the BCCI, the decision is in their hands," said Kaif, a commentator in the ILT20, on the sidelines of the competition in the UAE.




"I will not sit here and share an opinion because it is a sensitive issue. You should play a waiting game because what is happening, what will be the movement, we may write (but in reality) there is no movement there," he continued.

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"So I think we should not just jump the gun. We should just wait and watch, whatever the decision will be, BCCI are sitting there, they run big leagues, they know what to do and how to do it," stated the former India cricketer.

Earlier, spiritual leader Devkinandan Thakur had launched an attack against Bollywood actor and KKR co-owner Shah Rukh Khan over signing Mustafizur in the IPL Auction, calling him a "traitor."

Thakur had controversially said, "The way Hindus are being persecuted in Bangladesh, women and girls are being raped, their homes are being burned, and anti-India slogans are being chanted there. Despite all this, traitors like Shah Rukh Khan, I'm calling him a traitor because everything he has is given by India, given by the people of India, but where do they invest this money? They invest it in players from a country that is working against India," he had told news agency ANI.

He clarified that these remarks were not driven by personal animosity, saying, "I have never met Shah Rukh Khan. I don't know him. I've only seen his posters. I don't watch films. I don't do things that corrupt the character of the world."

He added, "I am a Hindu religious leader, and Hindus are being killed. Hindus are being killed in Bangladesh, and you have brought in a Bangladeshi cricketer in your team?"



The issue has triggered political reactions across the country, with leaders from the BJP, Congress, NCP, CPI(M), Samajwadi Party, and Shiv Sena (UBT) weighing in.

The comments come in the aftermath of tensions over the safety of Hindus in Bangladesh. Dipu Chandra Das, a worker in a garment factory in Bangladesh’s Mymensingh district, was beaten to death by a mob over alleged blasphemy charges, had his body hanged and set on fire.

Another Hindu youth was lynched at Hosendanga village of Kalimohor Union in Rajbari’s Pangsha sub-district over an extortion allegation.