Delhi Capitals’ Australian recruit Jake Fraser-McGurk became the second overseas cricketer after Jamie Overton, Chennai Super Kings’ (CSK) English recruit, to confirm his pull-out from IPL 2025, which will resume on Saturday. DC has named Bangladesh quick Mustafizur Rahman as a replacement to the Aussie.

Fraser-McGurk was signed by Delhi Capitals (DC) at the mega auction for Rs 9 crore. Mutafizur was, however, bought for Rs 6 crore. Mustafizur has previously played for DC in IPL 2022 and IPL 2023, picking up nine wickets across those seasons. However, he will not be eligible for retention by DC for IPL 2026 as per the tweaked replacement rules.

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The IPL’s original regulations permit teams to sign replacements in the event of illness or injury provided it occurs during or before their 12th match of the season. But the league has taken the call to change those rules, enabling temporary replacements to be signed for the remainder of the rearranged season. However, any temporary replacements signed after the league’s suspension will not be eligible for retention ahead of next season.

The IPL told franchises in a memo that it had “reassessed” the replacement rules. “Given the non-availability of certain foreign players due to national commitments or personal reasons or any injury or illness, Temporary Replacement Players will be allowed until the conclusion of this tournament,” the league said.

“This decision is subject to the condition that the Temporary Replacement players taken from this point forward will not be eligible for retention in the following year. Temporary Replacement players will have to register for the IPL Player Auction 2026.”

Fraser-McGurk, who left an instant impact in 2024 with his power-hitting skills, however, failed to repeat his performance in this edition. The 23-year-old opened in DC’s first six matches, but returned single-digit scores in five of them with a highest score of 38 in an overall tally of 55 runs before he was benched.

Meanwhile, Mustafizur will be the third left-arm pace option for the Delhi Capitals, who also have Mitchell Starc and T Natarajan. DC still remain in the hunt for a spot in the IPL 2025 playoffs when the season resumes on May 17.

They’re currently fifth with 13 points from 11 fixtures, only a point behind fourth-placed MI who have played one game more. DC’s three remaining fixtures are against fellow top-four aspirants in GT, MI and PBKS.