Pakistan Super League (PSL) franchise Lahore Qalandars announced on Thursday that it had directly signed Bangladesh pacer Mustafizur Rahman for PSL’s 11th edition, spending over Rs60 million.

“Our Bangladeshi brother, Mustafizur, picked in 2016 and 2018, is now our direct signing and finally back with the family. Once a Qalandar, always a Qalandar.

“Amount spent on DS: PKR6.44 crore,” the announcement on Lahore Qalandar’s X account said.

Mustafizur had registered for the PSL in early January, following his release from the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) squad for the Indian Premier League (IPL).

The 30-year-old left-arm pacer, known for his variations and death-over bowling, was acquired by KKR for INR 9.20 crore in the IPL mini-auction held in December.

He was the only Bangladesh player signed for the season.

KKR announced his release after receiving instructions from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

The decision came amid strained relations between India and Bangla­desh, linked to reports of attacks on minority communities in Bangladesh.

In response, Bangladesh banned IPL broadcasts in the country and the Bangladesh Cricket Board requested the International Cricket Council (ICC) to shift its T20 World Cup matches from India to Sri Lanka.

ICC, however, rejected the request, replacing Bangladesh with Scotland in the 20-team tournament.

Mustafizur, who has played in multiple IPL seasons since 2016 and taken over 60 wickets in the league, previously also featured in the PSL for Lahore Qalandars.

Mustafizur’s direct signing has been made possible after the PCB announced sweeping changes to the player acquisition mechanism for PSL 11 last month, replacing the long-running draft with a full-fledged auction and raising the player purse to $1.6m per franchise.

Under the new framework, each franchise is allowed one direct signing of a foreign player who did not feature in the previous season, giving teams an additional avenue to bolster their squads with new international talent.

PSL 11 will begin on March 26, and will also mark the return of Faisalabad as a host city, expanding the league’s footprint beyond the existing venues of Karachi, Lahore, Multan and Rawalpindi.