Former Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Bin Mortaza has praised young tearawayn Taskin Ahmed for his decision to prefer playing for the national team instead of taking part in the Indian Premier League (IPL).

Mashrafe said the pacer should be rewarded by the board so that he and other players feel that the board always stands beside them.

“Of course (Taskin should be awarded). When a player skips IPL for national duty, he deserves an award. It makes the cricketer feels good and thinks that the board is beside me and I’m ready to play any format of the game,” Mashrafe told the reporters on Sunday at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium.

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Taskin won the player of the match award twice in the recently concluded series against Proteas, which was the first series win in South Africa as well.

In the third match of the series, Taskin bagged five wickets— the second of his career. Right before the third match, Taskin got an IPL call-up from the Lucknow Super Giants.

The pacer said no to IPL after a discussion with the Bangladesh Cricket Board. The right-arm pacer is contracted with the board to play all formats of the game.

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