Mushfiqur Rahim opts out of IPL 2020 Auction

Mushfiqur Rahim, the veteran Bangladesh cricketer, has opted out of the 2020 Indian Premier League (IPL) Auction. On December 19 in Kolkata, as many as 971 players (713 Indians and 258 overseas) are set to go under the hammer. But Mushfiq decided to not be named there. The franchises have released their retention list and 73 slots need to be filled now.

The Bogra-born Mushfiqur was part of the IPL auction twice, but he remained unsold despite not having overly high base prices. A month ago, he played a masterful knock against India at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi. The knock guided the Tigers to their maiden T20I victory versus the Men in Blue after eight defeats. He smashed Khaleel Ahmed for four fours to end the game.

Six Bangladesh players in the IPL auction

The 32-year-old Mushfiqur will now be playing for the Khulna Tigers in the 2019-20 edition of the Bangabandhu Bangladesh Premier League (BPL), set to get underway on December 11. The upcoming IPL auction is set to feature six players from Bangladesh, namely Tamim Iqbal, Mahmudullah, Taskin Ahmed, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Mustafizur Rahman and Soumya Sarkar.

Out of them, only Mustafizur has wielded magic in the T20 league. The southpaw has played for the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) for a couple of seasons and last year, he played for the Mumbai Indians (MI) before getting ruled out. The left-handed Tamim was part of the Pune Warriors quite a few seasons ago, but he couldn’t get a game. He will play for Dhaka Platoon in the BPL.

Mahmudullah’s name has earlier been a part of the IPL auction, but even he didn’t get a buyer. The IPL will also be devoid of Shakib Al Hasan, who was earlier released by the Sunrisers. Shakib wouldn’t have been able to take part in the IPL since he is serving a ban from the International Cricket Council (ICC). The punishment was meted out after he failed to report corrupt approaches.

Mashrafe Mortaza, Abdur Razzak and Mohammad Ashraful are the other players from Bangladesh, who have plied craft in the IPL. As far as the IPL auction is concerned, Kolkata will be hosting the same for the first time. The same was decided in a meeting of the IPL Governing Council in Mumbai.