Mostafizur Rahman-Rishad Hossain appeared in the IPL auction yesterday but no franchise showed interest. Not only them, the team did not get any Bangladeshi cricketer named in the auction.
The IPL mega auction was held in Jeddah for the past two days. Among the Test playing countries, Bangladesh, Zimbabwe and Ireland did not get a team, although 6 cricketers from Afghanistan got a team. Pakistanis are not even registered in the IPL as they are 'incompetent'.
Mostafiz was the only Bangladeshi who got a team in the last IPL. He left Delhi Capitals and joined Mahendra Singh Dhoni at Chennai Super Kings. After Shakib Al Hasan, Mustafiz became the face of Bangladesh in the last few years. Like last time, this time too his base price was 2 crore rupees. But on the second day of the auction, no one bought him.
Fizz bowled brilliantly at the start of the 2024 IPL. In the beginning, he also held the 'Purple Cap'. He took 14 wickets in 9 matches. He could not play the entire last IPL due to the busyness of the national team. This time too, it was known from various sources that if any Bangladeshi cricketer gets an IPL team, Mustafiz has a better chance of getting it. It was heard somewhere that Chennai might be interested in Phys, given his performance last time and Chennai's conditions. In the end, no team got the 29-year-old pacer.
According to Mustafiz's family sources, Chennai Super Kings contacted him this time as well. The franchise wanted a left-arm pacer to join the team. In the end, the reason why Fiz was not included in their team, was the complexity of NOC or No Objection Letter. Chennai added English left-arm pacer Sam Curren to the team due to complications with Phys.
Since it was the mega auction this time, the teams sought a three-year no-objection letter from each player for the next three years. Chennai also sought NOC assurance from Mustafiz. The Bangladeshi pacer contacted BCB about this. But the Bangladesh Cricket Board did not want to give him NOC for more than 1 year.
Where all cricketers are guaranteed a three-year NOC, Chennai naturally lost interest in Mostafiz due to complications. Sri Lanka Cricket Board like BCB used to make various complications to give NOC to their players earlier. This time they also gave their own cricketers. Their board has given no-objection letter for 3 years to each of those who put up their names in the IPL auction. Compared to the previous few IPLs, this time the number of Lankan cricketers getting the team is comparatively more.
BCB has created complications in the past with giving NOCs to cricketers. Mostafiz never played a full IPL except 2016 IPL. He became the emerging cricketer of the IPL. In every subsequent IPL, he had to leave the IPL midway due to international cricket or various reasons. Not only Mustafiz, Taskin Ahmed could not play in IPL due to NOC complications despite getting a team. The performance of the cricketers, skill is definitely important. However, even though the IPL franchises showed some interest in Bangladeshi cricketers, they further backed off due to BCB's NOC complications.
In this year's mega auction, the highest number of 120 cricketers was sold by India. South Africa has got the maximum number of 14 foreign players in the 'without retain' auction. 13 from Australia, 11 from England. 7 from New Zealand, 6 from Sri Lanka and Afghanistan have been sold. 4 from West Indies. 72 were sold on the first day of the auction, 110 on the second day. 395 cricketers remained unsold.
