Mushfiq unsold in IPL 13 times

Bangladesh wicket-keeper batsman Mushfiqur Rahim and pacer Mustafizur Rahman remained unsold in the 2020 Indian Premier League auction which took place in Kolkata on Thursday.

Mushfiq, who had a base price of Rupees 75 lakh, was called upon the auction table but none of the eight IPL franchises showed any interest on the Bangladesh stalwart.

Mushfiq, who is yet to play in the IPL, had earlier taken off his name from the auction list before again putting it back after reportedly a franchise requested his inclusion in the player’s list.

This was the 13th time Mushfiq registered for the IPL auction but remained unpicked every time, tweeted cricbuzz, a leading Indian cricket website in their official twitter handle.

Mustafiz, who had previously played three seasons in the IPL, two for the Sunrisers Hyderabad and one for Mumbai Indians, had a base price of Rupees one crore, but no franchises showed any interest in gaining his services.

Australian pacer Pat Cummins made headlines on the day, by breaking the record of the costliest overseas buy in IPL history, after Kolkata Knight Riders paid a whopping Rupees 15.5 crores to secure his services for the 13th edition.

Previously, England all-rounder Ben Stokes held that record after the now-defunct Rising Pune Supergiants had spent Rupees 14.5 crores for him in the 2017 edition.

His Australian team-mate Glenn Maxwell fetched the second highest bid of the day, going for Rupees 10.7 crores to the Kings XI Punjab, where he has been playing since 2014.

Maxwell recently returned to competitive cricket in the ongoing Big Bash League after taking a short break from cricket to deal with mental health issues.

England’s World Cup winning skipper Eoin Morgan was picked up by Kolkata for Rupees 5.5 crores.

Indian captain Virat Kohli-led Royal Challengers Bangalore side purchased South African pacer Chris Morris for Rupees 10 crores and Australia’s limited overs skipper Aaron Finch for Rupees 4.4 crores.

A total of 338 players were under the hammer at the auction for the 13th edition of the world’s most cash-rich Twenty20 league.

Reportedly, five Bangladeshi players were in the final players list for the auction but the remaining four were not put under the hammer.

The 13th edition of the IPL is now set to be without any Bangladeshi representation, as Sakib al Hasan, who was a member of the Hyderabad franchise, won’t be featuring due to his ICC ban.