Taylor misses jackpot

Taylor, who turns 26 on February 6, was one of the 111 foreign stars who were available for auction by six franchises for the big-money Bangladesh Premier League Twenty20 tournament that starts on February 10 and ends on February 28.

The Zimbabwe captain was one 17 foreign stars, including Sri Lanka legend Muttiah Muralitharan and paceman Chaminda Vaas, South Africa’s Herschelle Gibbs and New Zealand’s Scott Styris, who were available on auction yesterday at a base value of US$100 000.
Somehow Taylor failed to get any suitors during the auction and lost the chance to bag, at least, US$100 000 for a two-week adventure playing Twenty20 cricket in Bangladesh.

Pakistan all-rounder, Shahid Afridi, generated intense bidding among the franchises and topped the scales when he was bought for a staggering US$700 000, even though he will only be available for the last two group matches for his team.
Afridi, an explosive player with the bat and a handy bowler tailor-made for the razzmatazz world of Twenty20 cricket, was signed by the Dhaka Gladiators for close to US$1 million in the biggest deal concluded at yesterday’s auction.

Former West Indies’ skipper, Chris Gayle, fetched the second highest price when he was snatched by the Barisal Burners for a cool US$551 000.
Gayle is turning into a specialist nomadic player who is hopping from one Twenty20 tournament to another, and reaping huge financial rewards for himself in the process, as he remains sidelined from the West Indies team because of a fallout with the Caribbean islands’ cricket administrators.
The big-hitting Jamaican played in the Stanbic Twenty20 cricket series at Harare Sports Club and then went to Australia to play in the Big Bash Twenty20 series.

Pakistan’s Shoaib Malik (Chittagong US$150,000) West Indies’ Dwayne Bravo (Chittagong US$150,000), Australia’s Brad Hodge (Barisal US$140,000), Sri Lanka’s Sanath Jayasuriya (Rajshahi US$110,000) and Muttiah Muralitharan (Chittagong US$100,000) were some of the players who went for hefty amounts.
On a day when the West Indies players were the flavour of the bidding teams, Marlon Samuels was bought by Duronto Rajshai for US$360 00 while his countryman, Kieron Pollard, fetched US$300 000 when he was taken up by the Dhaka Gladiators.

Each of the six franchises had to spend a maximum of US$2 million on not more than eight foreign players and and, on a day of high drama in Dhaka when the military announced that they had crushed an attempted coup, the big money flowed in the BPL auction.
Now and again, the information coming from Dhaka was confusing and, at one point, Gibbs was reported to have been snubbed by all the franchises only for confirmation to emerge later that he had been snapped up by the Khula Royal Bengals for a cool US$100 000.

Earlier reports filtered that Zimbabwe all-rounder, Elton Chigumbura, had been snatched by Duronto Rajshai for US$50 000 but when the final lists of players for each franchise were released late yesterday, the name of the former Zimbabwe skipper was missing.
Instead, the only Zimbabwean who will feature in the BPL Twenty20 tournament is Sean Ervine, who turned his back on the national team to pursue a career in county crickert, and was signed by

Duronto Rajshai yesterday for US$25 000.
Hamilton Masakadza and Stuart Matsikenyeri were included in the Grade C tier of the auction, which meant that they had a base value of US15 000, but they could not get any suitors.
Taylor, though, appeared to have played his way into a contract given his brilliant form of late and, having won the seal of approval from the New Zealand Twenty20 tournament where he played as

one of the foreign stars, an adventure in Bangladesh looked all but sealed.

But he didn’t get the break and, in the US$100 000 base value category of players, Muralitharan, Saeed Ajmal, Abdur Razzak and Kamran Akmal, all found buyers.
Taylor has been impressive, since taking over as national captain, and was named Zimbabwe Cricket’s Most Valuable Player in 2011 at an awards ceremony hosted by the organisation late last year.
He would have been available for the BPL Twenty20 given that Zimbabwe will complete their tour of New Zealand with their final Twenty20 game on February 14.

Taylor has been impressive, since taking over as national captain, and was named Zimbabwe Cricket’s Most Valuable Player in 2011 at an awards ceremony hosted by the organisation late last year.
He struck an aggressive 75, off 65 balls, in the third ODI to fuel Zimbabwe’s successful 329-run chase that won them a lot of credit from around the world.
Maybe, just maybe, the Bangladeshi cricket community hasn’t forgiven Taylor and his men for the humiliation they heaped on the Tigers, on Zimbabwe’s return to Test cricket when they handed the

visitors a 130-run defeat that resulted in changes being effected in the team’s leadership.
Shakib al-Hasan and Tamim Iqbal, the two iconic players in Bangladeshi cricket, were stripped of their roles as captain and vice-captain of the national team following the Test defeat in Zimbabwe.
Shakib and Tamim, together with national skipper Mushfiqur Rahim, Mohammad Ashraful, Sahriar Nafees and Alok Kapali, were selected as the iconic players and allocated to the different franchises without them going up for auction.
But there was still good money that was paid for the home players with all-rounder, Nasir Hossain, being signed for US$200 000.
Taylor scored 71 in the first innings against the Tigers and followed that up with an unbeaten 105, to become only the second Zimbabwean to score a century in his first match at Test captain, and the

successful comeback into the elite league was completed with a comprehensive victory.
While Taylor missed out, Ireland’s wicket-keeper/Batsman, Niall O’Brien, got his suitors when he was snatched for a cool US$80 000, the biggest cash splashed on a player from an Associate nation.
Indian firm, Game On Sports Management, will run the BPL Twenty20 for six years after winning the rights for US$44.33 million.