Bangladesh pacer Mustafizur Rahman has made it clear that the nation comes first for him and he is willing to skip the upcoming 14th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) for the Bangladesh team national duty.
Rahman’s comments came after the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) expressed disappointment over Shakib Al Hasan prioritizing IPL over national commitments and even the BCB has decided to add new clauses in the players’ central contracts to avoid such situation in the future.
However, the BCB had already made it clear that they would provide NOC to all players who want to play in the IPL and also allowed Shakib, who asked to skip the Test series against Sri Lanka to play the entire season for the Kolkata Knight Riders in the forthcoming IPL 2021 in India.
Well, the 25-year-old, who was bought by Rajasthan Royals at the latest IPL 2021 auction for INR 1 crore, has insisted that he is willing to skip the upcoming IPL 14 to play for his country and he will be available for selection for the two-match Test series against Sri Lanka if picked in the squad.
Mustafizur said: “I will do what BCB asks me to do. If they keep me in Test squad (for the tour of Sri Lanka) then I will play Tests and if they (BCB) don’t keep me in Test then they know what I should do.”
He signed off by saying, “My first priority is to play for my country and if I am picked in the Test series against Sri Lanka, I will naturally play. If I am not picked then BCB will tell me that I am not included. At that point, if I am given NOC to play in the IPL then I will play, but patriotism comes first for me.”
(With PTI Inputs)
