Bangladesh pacer Mustafizur Rahman has on Wednesday (September 30) expressed regret over missing the opportunity to play in the ongoing 13th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 in the UAE after the postponement of his national team's tour of Sri Lanka.
Mumbai Indians and Kolkata Knight Riders had shown interest in signing Rahman as an injury replacement for the ongoing IPL 2020, but the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) refused to issue NOC to the speedster citing the national commitments.
But now Bangladesh’s most recent international assignment has been postponed as the BCB President Nazmul Hasan had asked Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) to reschedule the three-match Test series due to the mandatory 14-day quarantine rule in a wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mustafizur was quoted by Cricbuzz: “It would have been great to play the Test series. Sri Lanka's proposal to have us quarantined for 14 days didn't seem possible for us. You can't sit in your room before such an important series, no matter how hard you train. BCB tried, but the 14-day quarantine is their law. I think we should respect it.”
Read Also: Bangladesh's Sri Lanka tour postponed amidst failed quarantine period negotiation
Hasan said the BCB wasn’t willing to comply with the 14-day quarantine rule proposed by Sri Lanka due to the Coronavirus outbreak. After the cancellation of the tour, Rahman regrets missing a great opportunity to rub shoulder with the world-class stars as well as the opportunity to make money by playing in the IPL 2020.
He further added, “If the BCB knew that the Sri Lanka series would be postponed, they would have given me the NOC (No Objection Certificate) for IPL. But whatever happens, happens for the best. I may have earned BDT (Bangladesh Taka) 1 crore had I played the IPL.”
Noteworthy, the BCB had earlier also denied NOC to Mustafizur for taking part in the Pakistan Super League in 2015-16 due to injury concerns and compensated him with BDT Taka 30 Lakh, but this time, the board would not give any compensation to him for missing the IPL 2020.
