Bangladesh pacer Mustafizur Rahman will miss Melbourne Renegades’ Big Bash League (BBL) opener in Chennai, the first BBL match outside Australia, because of an overlap with the UAE’s ILT20, the club’s general manager said.

The December 12 game against Perth Scorchers at the MA Chidambaram Stadium is in the same country where Mustafizur was dropped from the Indian Premier League earlier this year.

“He’ll be unavailable at this stage for our first game in Chennai, which is a bit of a shame. He’s got the ILT20 commitments. The two seasons overlap,” Max Abbott said in a press conference announcing Mustafizur’s signing.

“Then we'll assess it for the second game depending on how finals are going in his ILT20 campaign. But at the moment, we'll be preparing that he'll be available for our second match on the 22nd of December, which is against the Sydney Sixers up at the SCG.”

The ILT20 runs from November 21 to December 20, with the final in Dubai. Mustafizur was retained by Dubai Capitals as an icon player for the season.

Last year, IPL franchise Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) bought him for 9.20 crore rupees at the auction, then released him on January 3 after the BCCI instructed them to, citing “recent developments”, seemingly under pressure from right-wing and religious groups.

Bangladesh then refused to send their team to India for the T20 World Cup, citing security concerns. The ICC rejected a request to move their games to Sri Lanka and replaced them with Scotland on January 24.

This is set to be Mustafizur’s first ever season at the BBL. Renegades are building a marketing push around the bowler, known as “the Fizz”. They have launched the “Fizz Bay”, a dedicated section at the MCG, with the first 200 spots half-price for families.

Abbott said the bay could be expanded if demand is high, and invited fans to wear Bangladesh or Renegades colours and “make lots of noise”.

“I've worked previously with the ICC in a number of World Cups. I know that there's no fans like the Bangladesh fans. They ride the highs and lows of every game like no other fans around the world. And it's going to be great that we're able to harness some of that energy to get behind the Renegades this year.”