Bangladesh Test and T20 captain Shakib Al Hasan, along with the stylish yet destructive Litton Kumer Das, a top order bat who can also keep wickets, have been signed by Kolkata Knight Riders for the upcoming edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL), in an auction held Friday.
While Shakib is a familiar figure in the IPL, Litton has received his inaugural call to the highly lucrative T20 tournament.
Shakib, one of the best allrounders of the current age, went unsold when his name was first called at Friday's auction. Despite his reputation, no team showed interest in signing him. However, Kolkata picked him up for INR 1.5 crores when his name was called again. Litton also found his home with the team owned by Bollywood superstar Shahrukh Khan, going for INR 50 lakhs.
Litton scored 1388 runs with eight fifties in 65 T20I matches he played for Bangladesh. In domestic level T20s, he played 160 matches and scored 3443 runs with the highest score of 78 not out.
Undoubtedly what made the difference for him this time is the blazing assault he launched against the Indian attack when Bangladesh and India squared off in October's ICC T20 World Cup. Opening the innings for the Tigers after India had posted a stiff target of 186 to win for their smaller neighbours, Das threatened to take the game away from the Indians with a 21-ball 50: the second-fastest by a Bangladeshi batsman in T20Is, next to Mohd. Ashraful, who did it off 20 balls against the West Indies.
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Once Das was unluckily run out for a memorable 60 off just 27 balls, featuring seven hits to the fence and three that went over it, Bangladesh's hopes in that game quickly faded.
Shakib's IPL performance over the span of 2011-2021 has been decent during this period, he played a total of 71 matches for two teams— Kolkata and Sunrisers Hyderabad.
He has scored a total of 793 runs with the highest score of 66*, and a batting average of 19.82. He took 63 wickets with the best bowling of 3/17 and an average of 29.19. He has yet to take a five-wicket haul in IPL.
The other Bangladeshi player who will play in the next IPL is Mustafizur Rahman. The Delhi Capitals retain the left-arm pacer.
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