Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) players draft is going on in a five-star hotel in the capital. The seven participating teams of the BPL are working to prepare the team for the eleventh season of the BPL. The old four franchises – Sylhet Strikers, Fortune Barisal, Khulna Tigers and Rangpur Riders have been joined by Dhaka Capitals, Durbar Rajshahi and Chittagong Kings.
At the start of the draft, teams are drawn in a lottery. In the beginning, Durbar Rajshahi got the opportunity to get players called up. The party took Taskin Ahmed. After that, Shakib Khan’s team got a chance to get the Dhaka Capitals call. They took Liton Kumar Das in the team. Shamim Hossain Patwari was picked up by Chittagong Kings in the third. Then Khulna Tigers brought Hasan Mahmud to the team. Rangpur Riders took Nahid Rana in the team after getting a chance to get a five-man call-up. After that, Sylhet Strikers got a chance to get called for six and Fortune Barisal for seven. They took Rony Talukder and Mahmudullah Riyad respectively in the team.
Second round gets a chance to get called from the back in order. Fortune Barisal picked Tanveer Islam, Sylhet Strikers Mashrafe Bin Murtaza, Rangpur Raiders Saif Hasan, Khulna Tigers Naeem Sheikh, Chittagong Kings Parvez Hossain Imon, Dhaka Capitals Habibur Rahman Sohan and Durbar Rajshahi Zeesan Alam.
Dhaka Capitals took two pacers in the third and fourth round. They took Abu Zayed Chowdhury and Mukidul Islam. Sylhet gets strikers Al-Amin Hossain and Arafat Sani in this round. Chittagong Kings picked up Khaled Ahmed and Alis Al Islam. Durbar took two batsmen Yasir Ali Rabi and Sabbir Hossain to the Rajshahi team.
Nazmul Hossain Shanto, captain of three formats of the national team, got the team in this round. He was recruited by Fortune Barisal. Barisal included pacer Ripon Mondal in the next call. Apart from this, Rangpur Riders have selected Soumya Sarkar and Rakibul Hasan and Khulna Tigers have drawn Imrul Kayes and Mahidul Islam.
Franchises pick relatively low-budget players in foreign drafts. Pakistan’s Saim Ayyub and Amir Hamza were picked by Dhaka Capitals, West Indies’ Rakim Cornwall and Afghanistan’s Samiullah Shenwari were picked by Sylhet Strikers. Chittagong Kings signed England’s Graeme Clares and Australia’s Thomas O’Connell. Durbar Rajshahi have relied on Pakistan’s Saad Naseem and Sri Lanka’s Lahiru Samarakun and Fortune Barisal on veteran England player James Fuller. Newly they have taken Pathum Nisanka in the team.
Rangpur Raiders fielded Pakistan’s Akif Javed and Ireland all-rounder Kurtish Camper while Khulna Tigers fielded Pakistan’s Mohammad Hasnain and England’s Lewis Gregory.
Earlier, the old four teams retained two players and one player each on direct contracts, while the new three teams added two players each on direct contracts.
Fortune Barisal:
Retain: Tamim Iqbal and Mushfiqur Rahim.
Direct Signing: Tawheed Hriday.
Rangpur Riders:
Retain: Nurul Hasan Sohan and Sheikh Mehdi Hasan.
Direct signing: Mohammad Saifuddin.
Khulna Tigers:
Retain: Nasum Ahmed and Afif Hossain.
Direct signing: Mehdi Hasan Miraj.
Sylhet Strikers:
Retain: Tanzim Hasan Shakib and Zakir Hasan.
Direct signing: Zaker Ali Anik.
Dhaka Capitals:
Direct signings: Mostafizur Rahman and Tanjid Hasan Tamim.
Durbar Rajshahi:
Direct signing: Enamul Haque Vijay.
Chittagong Kings:
Direct signings: Shakib Al Hasan and Shariful Islam.
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