Bangladesh ace pacer Mustafizur Rahman has been granted the 'maximum' possible no-objection certificate (NOC) to take part in the upcoming Indian Premier League, which is scheduled to begin in March next year.
The 30-year-old left-armer was snapped up by three-time champions Kolkata Knight Riders at the IPL mini-auction on Tuesday for a staggering INR 9.20 crore (Tk 12.36 crore), the highest price ever paid for a Bangladeshi player in the league.
"Mustafizur Rahman has been given the maximum possible NOC. He will be available for the New Zealand series and will come and play that series," Shahriar Nafees, in charge of cricket operations at the Bangladesh Cricket Board, told The Daily Star.
Explaining the process behind player availability, Shahriar said the BCB had already informed the IPL authorities and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) about Mustafizur's national commitments ahead of the auction.
"We send a projection to the IPL and the BCCI outlining when a player has national duty and when he will be free to play the franchise tournament. Based on that information, the player is picked up in the auction," Shahriar explained.
Bangladesh are scheduled to play a series against Pakistan in the third week of March, followed by a tour of New Zealand in April. The Pakistan series is expected to be postponed due to the Pakistan Super League. While the itinerary for the New Zealand tour is yet to be finalised, it will feature three ODIs and three T20Is and, according to the Future Tours Programme calendar, is set to take place in the third and fourth weeks of April.
The IPL is slated to get underway on March 26, with the final scheduled for May 31.