Mustafizur Rahman has signed up for the auction of England’s 100 ball competition The Hundred. The tournament will go through an auction for the first time, moving away from the player draft system.
ESPNcricinfo reports that more than 950 players have registered for the auction. The event is scheduled for March. Mustafizur will now wait to see if any team picks him.
The Bangladesh left arm pacer has stayed in the news in recent months. Last November, Kolkata Knight Riders bought him in the IPL auction for INR 9.2 crore. But early last month, protests from some Indian political leaders and religious groups followed allegations about minority attacks in Bangladesh. After that, the Board of Control for Cricket in India directed that he be removed from the squad. Kolkata later confirmed his release.
The issue grew bigger after that. Bangladesh refused to travel to India for the World Cup, citing security concerns. The International Cricket Council then left Bangladesh out and gave the place to Scotland.
Pakistan later announced they would not play their group match against India in protest. They changed that decision after talks with the ICC. India then beat Pakistan easily in the match.
After leaving the IPL, Mustafizur found a new team in the Pakistan Super League. Lahore Qalandars signed him directly before their draft for a deal worth PKR 6.88 crore.
Now he has entered The Hundred auction. It remains to be seen if any franchise will sign him. In earlier years, Bangladesh players such as Shakib Al Hasan, Tamim Iqbal and Litton Das entered the draft, but no Bangladeshi has played in the tournament yet.
More than fifty Pakistan players have also registered. The list includes Salman Ali Agha, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shadab Khan and Haris Rauf. BBC reports say teams with Indian links may not be keen to pick Pakistani players. Six of the eight teams in the tournament have Indian investors.
So far, nine Pakistan players have played in the first five seasons of The Hundred. In the latest season, Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Wasim took part.
