The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) decided in principle to allow Mustafizur Rahman to play the Indian Premier League (IPL) like Shakib Al Hasan if the pacer asks for leave from the Test series against Sri Lanka.
The Bangladesh’s two-match Test series against Sri Lanka is likely to be held in April after being postponed twice in pandemic-struck 2020. The next
edition of IPL is also will be held in April.
While Shakib Al Hasan, who was sold to Kolkata Knight Rider at a price of INR 3.20 crore, had already asked for leave by choosing IPL over Sri Lanka
Tests, Mustafizur is yet to come up with any decision. He (Mustafizur) was sold to Rajasthan Royals for his base price of INR one crore.
“The board will not force anyone who isn’t interested to play Test cricket. Shakib asked for leave and that was granted and if Mustafizur seeks
leave, he will get the permission,” BCB Cricket Operations Chairman Akram Khan said here today.
“We had a discussion with the board president in this regard. He also gave us the direction. We won’t force anyone to play Test cricket. If anyone
doesn’t want to play Test cricket, we won’t consider him.”
The BCB president Nazmul Hassan Papon had an emergency meeting with the former five captains– Akram Khan, Naimur Rahman Durjoy, Khaled Mahmud Sujon, Minhajul Abedin Nannu and Habibul Bashar Sumon– who are in important posts of the BCB, in the wake of Bangladesh’s crushing defeat to a depleted West Indies side in Test series.
One of the issues that came to the fore in the discussion was some of the players’ reluctance to play the longer version format. Mustafizur was the one
amongst others who at some point showed his reluctance to play the Test cricket even though the pacer later denied it.
The BCB has in the past said that Bangladesh players would be allowed to be part of two franchise-based T20 tournaments per year, but there have been a few instances in the last seven years when Shakib had to skip the IPL due to national commitments.
[BSS]
