As part of their preparation for the upcoming bilateral home series against South Africa, the Bangladesh cricketers will face each other in a Twenty20 practice match at Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium today.
To add more fun, colour and excitement to the warm-up game, a mimic franchise auction was held in the dressing room yesterday to form the two teams – Red and Green. Bangladesh opener Soumya Sarkar attracted the highest bid of $180,000 while Tigers sensation Mustafizur Rahman fetched $160,000. To everyone’s surprise, ODI and T20 captain Mashrafe bin Mortaza attracted the lowest bid!
Yesterday, the Tigers regrouped at the home of cricket following a short, five-day break. They underwent gym sessions and sat for a brief meeting before taking part in the fun auction.
Bangladesh pace-bowling coach Heath Streak and trainer Mario Villavarayan were named the co-owners of one team while fielding coach Richard Halsall and assistant and spin-bowling coach Ruwan Kalpage were declared the co-owners of the other. Head coach Chandika Hathurusingha was the auction referee and will be a keen observer when the game takes place today. Opener Tamim Iqbal was the auctioneer.
Before the auction got underway, the two teams were each allotted $1m to form their squad. Richard-Ruwan picked up hard-hitting batsman Soumya while Heath-Mario roped in Mustafizur.
Middle-order batsman Sabbir Rahman and opener Tamim were each sold for $130,000 while ace all-rounder Shakib al Hasan and wicketkeeper-batsman Mushfiqur Rahim each attracted bids of $120,000. Mashrafe, meanwhile, was sold for a lowly $43,000.
The dressing room and apparel of the two teams were decided by the toss of a coin in the presence of the captains – Mashrafe and Shakib. The Narail Express won the toss on both occasions and grabbed the right of the home dressing room and the national outfit.
The price for the winning team was also decided; a sumptuous dinner to be organised by the losing side.