Bangladesh players should take part in more overseas leagues to improve their player count in IPL: Deep Dasgupta

Afghanistan only got Test status in 2018 while Bangladesh has been a full member since 2000. Despite this, there are three Afghanistan players in the Indian Premier League (IPL) while franchises have been on the lookout for other players from the country. But, in the case of Bangladesh, only Mustafizur Rahman and Shakib Al Hasan have been picked in the competition this year. 

There was a time in the early 2010s when Shakib used to be the only player until Mustafizur came around in 2016. Deep Dasgupta explained why there are just two players from Bangladesh in the cash-rich league when a Bangladesh fan asked him about this on his Youtube Channel.

Dasgupta rightly pointed out that there was a brief period in 2012 and 2013 when Tamim Iqbal had featured in the now-defunct Pune Warriors India. However, Tamim didn’t get a single game. “Look, one thing is, you have Mustafizur, you have Shakib obviously, Tamim did play,” Deep Dasgupta said in the beginning. 

Performances in other leagues also count, feels Dasgupta

After that, the former Indian wicket-keeper explained that most of the IPL teams scout the best players from the international circuit or players who are regularly playing in the franchise league tournaments across the world. Among the Bangladesh internationals, only Shakib and Mustafizur are the ones who have got deals in other T20 leagues. Mahmudullah and Liton Das have also featured in some leagues but not regularly. 

“Most of the cricketers who come to the IPL are firstly playing international cricket. Secondly, most of them are playing in other T20 leagues all around the globe, franchise cricket. A lot of performances in the franchise cricket counts. IPL teams see how a player does in the CPL. Or maybe, how they perform in the BBL counts,” Dasgupta said. 

He further said once players from Bangladesh start playing more and more T20 leagues, we will see an influx of Bangladeshi talents in the IPL. “I think once more and more Bangladesh players start playing franchise cricket around the world and the performances will start coming afront, then you will see more and more Bangladeshi cricketers in the IPL as well,” the former Bengal cricketer said.