Rajasthan Royals academy in Bangladesh, Mustafizur Rahman

IPL 2021 – Rajasthan Royals: The Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Rajasthan Royals is planning to expand to Bangladesh. Rajasthan Royals chairman Ranjit Barthakur currently on short visit to Bangladesh has said that the franchise is eyeing an academy in Bangladesh in a bid to broaden their base in the global cricket markets. Barthakur visited Bangladesh alongside two other delegates on Thursday.

The three-member team inspected the facilities at Mirpur Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Dhaka where they were accompanied by Bangladesh Cricket Board officials.

“We want to open a Royal academy in Bangladesh,” Barthakur told reporters during his visit. “The plan is yet to be finalized but we are thinking about academy which can feed the whole IPL from here. We would like to send our scouts to discover cricketers from the grassroots, to prepare them by honing their skills, so that both of the bodies (RR and BCB) can utilize their talents and skills.

“I am here to see how we can have an exchange program, for cricket, so that we can flourish jointly, as the eastern Himalayan territory, rather than territories of India and Bangladesh.

“Teams like Kolkata, Chennai, and Mumbai had looked at Bangladeshi players as potential recruitment over the years, and we are definitely looking at them right now. They’ve got grit; they play under very difficult situations, so I think it’s very important.”

The ones from the academy who are really cut out for the top level will make their way to the Rajasthan squad, hoped Barthakur.

IPL 2021: Mustafizur Rahman unlikely for IPL 2021

Their is also some bad news coming in from Bangladesh for Rajasthan Royals. Royals is unlikely to get services from Bangladesh left-arm seamer Mustafizur Rahman for the forthcoming season. Mustafizur was bought by Royals for 1 Cr for the IPL 2021 but now is unlikely to be available on account of Bangladesh tour of Sri Lanka.

The paceman from Dhaka has already reiterated his priorities of playing for Bangladesh over IPL 2021.