Two months after completing a five-year ban for match-fixing, Mohammad Ashraful has found his way back into the Bangladesh Premier League. The 34-year old batsman was picked up by Chittagong Vikings during the player draft for the sixth season of the tournament which begins on January 5, reports ESPNcricinfo.
Following an investigation by the ICC's anti-corruption unit into the BPL in 2013, Ashraful admitted his mistake and was barred from playing any cricket for eight years. But he appealed against the verdict and got it reduced to five years.
In August 2016, the BCB allowed Ashraful to play domestic cricket again and the former Bangladesh captain has done reasonably well, scoring 1495 runs, including six centuries, in 49 first-class and List A innings. However, he has not played a top-tier T20 game since March 2013.
Earlier in the day, and minutes before the player draft, the Vikings also picked up Mushfiqur Rahim from the A+ category (the top category). On the day before, the governing council had informed that as an A+ player (TK 40 to 75 lakh or approx USD 47,000 to 90,000) in the list, any franchise would be able to bid for him after Rajshahi Kings didn't retain him. The wicketkeeper-batsman is the third highest run-getter in the competition with a tally of 1357 from 54 innings at a strike-rate of 128.
Comilla Victorians have brought in the retired Shahid Afridi, who was in category A+ (For overseas players that's USD 200,000). But it was the little-known Fabian Allen who was the first foreign pick. The 23-year old West Indies allrounder will represent Sylhet Sixers. Ian Bell was also snapped up in the first round of the draft, Dhaka Dynamites acquiring the 36-year old England batsman.
Additionally, AB de Villiers was picked up by Rangpur Riders, and will play alongside West Indies' Chris Gayle and England's Alex Hales in this season of the BPL.