Shakib, Mustafizur unlikely to play further part of IPL

The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) showed its reluctance to provide No Objection Certificate (NOC) to star players Shakib Al Hasan and Mustafizur Rahman to play the further part of the Indian Premier League (IPL).

The cash-rich tournament, which was postponed due to the surge of Covid-19 cases in India, is highly likely to be held in September in Dubai.

But as Bangladesh will play some important series for their preparation for the T20 World Cup, the BCB president Nazmul Hassan Papon said, it will be impossible to provide NOC to those two players.

“I actually don’t see any possibility…it’s almost impossible to give them the NOC as the World Cup is coming up and we will be busy with some important series for our preparation for the World Cup,” Papon said during an interview with a local satellite channel on Sunday.

Shakib played for Kolkata Knight Riders while Mustafizur was part of Rajasthan Royals. Shakib was dropped following his poor form in the first three matches, Mustafizur was in top form to make him the integral part of the franchise.

The ace allrounder Shakib skipped the Sri Lanka Test series to play IPL, which frustrated BCB president and he then emphasized on keeping some new clause regarding the franchise league in players’ new contract paper.

However after touring Zimbabwe for a Test, three ODIs and three T20Is in June-July, Bangladesh will play five T20Is against Australia at home while both New Zealand (three T20Is) and England (three ODIs and three T20Is) are expected to tour Bangladesh after that for white-ball matches in the lead up to the World Cup.

As Bangladesh will be busy with International commitment, BCB cricket operations chairman Akram earlier informed that they are not even ready to provide NOC to Shakib for Caribbean Premier League (CPL) either. Shakib was recently recruited by Jamaica Tallawahs for the CPL which is supposed to be held in August.