Former Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Mortaza believes, Taskin Ahmed should be provided monetary reward by Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) for missing the ongoing Indian Premier League 2022 for national commitment.
Taskin was denied the No-Objection certificate by BCB in middle of the ODI series against South Africa after the new entrant of IPL, Lucknow Super Giants touched base with the board in order to rope in Taskin as injured Mark Wood's replacement.
When Lucknow Super Giants wanted to rope in Taskin as a replacement for an injured English seamer Mark Wood, the IPL franchise threw a strict condition as well, which was the commitment to play the entire season.
''Certainly, (he should be rewarded financially by the board for skipping the IPL)," he said.
"If you look at ECB and see what they are doing with Anderson and Broad, it's not compensation, it's just a reward that they are playing for the country, instead of playing in the IPL. By doing this (giving reward) what happens is that players have a good feeling that board is seeing their welfare,'' he added.
However, Taskin, who was already involved in the three-match ODI series for Bangladesh against hosts South Africa, as well being a key component in the upcoming Tests against the Proteas, ended up prioritising his national duty. The 26-year-old then followed his decision with a match-winning performance in the series-deciding ODI with a five-wicket haul as Bangladesh achieved an unprecedented series victory.
Mortaza was effusive in praising Taskin and said the pacer is reaping fruits for all the hard work he has done so far.
''Of course, Taskin's hard work has paid off. He did hard work during Covid, so now he is getting results. I think he is now passing (through) his prime, but the most important thing is how he controls, because there will be a different environment when he returns as media, fans and everyone will be following him," Mortaza said.
''The important thing for him is controlling these things, keeping his feet on the ground and keep on doing what he is doing now. I think he has to realize that his job is only inside the ground... not outside.
"Social media is always a scary thing. It is always dangerous for any person and obviously for the players too. Because there are two forms of social media - If you do well, you will get one kind of discussion and if you do bad, you will face another kind of discussion... criticism. Even if you perform average, you will face another kind of discussion... criticism,'' he further added.
