8 cricketers left out of BPL auction list amid fixing suspicion

Eight Bangladesh cricketers have been omitted from the final draft list of the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) auction after they were flagged during an ongoing investigation into suspected corruption in the tournament.

The cricketers are Anamul Haque Bijoy, Mosaddek Hossain, Shofiul Islam, Alauddin Babu, Sunzamul Islam, Mizanur Rahman, Monir Hasan Khan and Nihaduzzaman.

The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) had earlier confirmed that at least 10 players in the “red-mark zone” would be removed from auction eligibility ahead of Sunday’s event in Dhaka. These five names were present in the preliminary draft but did not appear in the final list issued on Saturday.

BCB vice-president Shakhawat Hossain said that the governing council is acting on guidance from anti-corruption consultant Alex Marshall, the former head of the ICC’s Anti-Corruption Unit.

“We will get the names tomorrow, and they will be excluded from the list. We don’t know the exact number of cricketers, but Alex Marshall said there are quite a few cricketers in the red-mark zone—that number will be within 10, as we understand—and they will be removed from the list,” he said.

The move follows a 900-page report submitted by a three-member independent inquiry committee formed after widespread fixing allegations in the previous BPL season. The report identified 18-19 individuals—including 8-10 players—suspected of involvement to varying degrees and advised that they be kept away from the competition.