Rangpur Raiders rode on their luck to land coveted Sakib al Hasan as the players’ draft for the third edition of the Bangladesh Premier League held at a city hotel on Thursday.
Riders were lucky throughout the proceeding that was marred by chaos and confusion with the teams struggling to comprehend the complex rules set out by the BPL authority.
It was earlier stated that the lottery for the icon players would be held at the beginning but the authority changed their hearts at the last moment and put it at end of the show.
The process began with the lottery for the other players and Rangpur got the first chance to make a call. They picked up Soumya Sarkar and were followed by Dhaka Dynamites, who picked up Mustafizur Rahman.
Chittagong Vikings were the third team in last and they made a surprise call by picking up Anamul Haque.
Barisal Bulls, the next team in the order, grabbed the chance to confirm the signature of Sabbir Rahman, leaving two other sides – Comilla Victorians and Sylhet Superstars – to remain satisfied with Liton Das and Rubel Hossain respectively.
Rangpur were first to make a call for the icon player as well and they wasted no time to pick up Sakib, who was reportedly wanted by all franchises.
Comilla came next and they choose Mashrafee bin Murtaza without any hesitation. Barisal sprang a surprise opting for Mahmudullah when Tamim Iqbal, Nasir Hossain and Mushfiqur Rahim were still available.
It created an opportunity for Chittagong Vikings to take their local icon Tamim in their side. They grabbed the chance with both hands, leaving Sylhet to choose between Mushfiq and Nasir.
Sylhet, who had earlier publicly expressed their admiration for Mushfiq, picked up the Bangladesh Test captain to leave Dhaka without any option but to take Nasir.
A total of 130 players and a host of foreign players were put in lottery but only 76 players, who included 57 local players and 19 foreigners, were lucky to get a team.
Comilla, Barisal and Chittagong picked up 10 local players each while Dhaka, Rangpur and Sylhet picked nine players each.
According to the rules, a team must pick at least 10 local players. But Dhaka, Rangpur and Sylhet were still one player short.
Officials said they will complete the quota from the remaining players.
The maximum quota for local players and foreign players is 13 and 12 respectively. Teams were given a chance to pick maximum nine foreigners outside the draft and it appeared that most of them were going to take this opportunity.
Only Comilla picked up four foreigners in players’ draft while others opted for three each.
The third edition of the Bangladesh premier League Twenty20 is set to get underway from November 22.
TEAMS
Dhaka Dynamites: Nasir Hossain, Mustafizur Rahman, Mosharraf Hossain, Mosaddek Hossain, Sohel Khan (PAK)), Shamsur Rahman, Saikat Ali, Dawid Malan (ENG), Farhad Reza, Nabil Samad, Shazaib Hasan (PAK), Abul Hassan and Irfan Sukkur.
Chittagong Vikings: Tamim Iqbal, Anamul Haque, Taskin Ahmed, Ziaur Rahman, Jeevan Mendis (SL), Elias Sunny, Naeem Islam, Saeed Ajmal (PAK), Enamul Haque Jr, Yasir Ali, Robin Petersen (SA), Shafiul Islam, Asif Ahmed, Nafees Iqbal.
Comilla Victorians: Mashrafee bin Murtaza, Liton Das, Imrul Kayes, Shuvagata Hom, Darren Stevens (ENG), Sanjamul Islam, Lahiru Thirimanne (SL), Kamrul Islam, Nuwan Kulasekara (SL), Ariful Haque, Mahmudul Hasan, Andre Russell (WI), Naeem Islam Jr, Abu Haider Rony, Dhiman Ghosh.
Sylhet Superstars: Mushfiqur Rahim, Rubel Hossain, Mominul Haque, Abdur Razzak, Chris Jordan (ENG), Nurul Hasan, Mohammad Shahid, Joshua Cobb (ENG), Nazmul Hossain Apu, Junaid Siddique, Sohail Tanvir (PAK), Nazmul Hossain Milon, Abu Sayem Chowdhry.
Rangpur Riders: Sakib al Hasan, Soumya Sarkar, Arafat Sunny, Mohammad Mithun, Sachithra Senanayake (SL), Mukter Ali, Saqlain Sajib, Mohammad Nabi (AFG), Jahirul Islam, Abu Zaid, Wahab Riaz (PAK), Murad Khan, Russell Al Mamun.
Barisal Bulls: Mahmudullah, Sabbir Rahman, Al-Amin Hossain, Sohag Gazi, Sekkuge Prasanna (SL), Taijul Islam, Shahriar Nafees, Mohammad Sami (PAK), Mehedi Maruf, Nadif Chowdhury, Imad Wasim (PAK), Rony Talukdar, Mohammad Sharifullah, Sajidul Islam.
Source: New Age
