Despite not featuring regularly in domestic cricket, former Bangladesh skipper Mashrafee bin Mortaza is included in the highest category of the local player's draft for the upcoming Bangabandhu Bangladesh Premier League.
According to the player draft list, six leading players are included in the A category - Tamim Iqbal, Shakib Al Hasan, Mahmudullah, Mushfiqur Rahim and Mustafizur Rahman - being the other five members.
The inclusion of Mortaza in the top category raised quite a few eyebrows considering he is not playing cricket regularly and is occupied with his duty as a member of a parliament.
Mortaza’s last competitive match was the final of the Bangabandhu T20 Cup 2020 on December 18. However, BPL governing council member secretary Ismail Haider told Cricbuzz that the veteran deserves the recognition.
“Yes we have kept Mashrafee in A category as we feel he deserves to be there,” said Ismail.
“Though I cannot comment about the national team, he is still a very good player in domestic circuit and is one of the best cricketing brains around. We must also show some respect for all his contribution and if you go by statistics you will see he is very successful in BPL,” he further added. Injured all-rounder Mohammad Saifuddin was overlooked in the players’ draft list for the tournament that is scheduled to begin on January 21.
However, it did not go well with him as he was eyeing to take part in the tournament purely as a batter considering his back injury wouldn't permit him to bowl.
“Nobody is ready to hear or understand junior players like us. I don’t have any complaint against anyone but I am hurt,” Saifuddin wrote on his Facebook page.
The B category includes 14 cricketers while there are 40 cricketers in the C category. In D, E, F category there are 60, 63 and 29 players respectively.