5th edition of BPL begins today
The AKS 5th edition of the money-spinning Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) T20 will begin today at Sylhet International Cricket Stadium in Sylhet with participation of top level professional T20 cricket franchise.
On the first day of the fixture, local franchisee Sylhet Sixers will take on defending champions Dhaka Dynamites at 2 pm while Rajshahi Kings meet Rangpur Riders at 7 pm of the seven-team domestic extravaganza competition.
The BPL T20 will host 46 matches till December 12 at the three different venues in Dhaka, Chittagong and Sylhet.
The first phase of the competition have slots of eight encounters with two match are billed to be held every day - one in day time and one in night - in Sylhet.
After eight first phase matches, which will be played in Sylhet, sixteen subsequent matches will be played at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium (SBNCS) in Dhaka.
The ten matches of third phase will be held at Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chittagong while the 12 remaining matches of the fourth phase including the final will back in the city.
The 39-day extravaganza is expected to create an excitement having the world class foreign players in seven teams.
This season's Sylhet will mark its debut as BPL. The Sylhet stadium has completed all its preparations and all seven participating teams have already landed in the 'City of Saints'.
Ahead of the BPL, the city has been nicely decorated and around a hundred gates welcoming the teams have been set up.
Meanwhile, to ensure security, Sylhet Metropolitan Police have taken all the necessary steps and have already circulated security cautions to the citizens to avoid important roads that will be used to carry players from hotel to venue.
Following are the full squads of the participating teams:
Rajshahi Kings: Mushfiqur Rahim (Icon), Lendl Simmons, Darren Sammy, Kesrick Williams (Windies), Malcom Waller (Zimbabwe), James Franklin (New Zealand), Luke Wright, Farhad Reza, Samit Patel (England), Mohammad Sami (Pakistan), Mominul Haque, Mehidy Hasan, Mustafizur Rahman, Zakir Hasan, Nihaduzzaman, Rony Talukdar, Usama Mir, Raja Ali Dar, Hossain Ali, Naeem Islam jnr, Kazi Anik.
Dhaka Dynamites: Shakib Al Hasan (Icon), Kumar Sangakkara (wk) (Sri Lanka), Cameron Delport (South Africa), Shane Watson (Australia), Evin Lewis, Kevon Cooper, Rovman Powell, Ronsford Beaton, Sunil Narine (Windies), Shahid Afridi (Pakistan), Graeme Cremer (Zimbabwe), Mohammed Amir, Shaheen Shah Afridi (Pakistan), Mehedi Maruf, Mosaddek Hossain, Abu Hider, Mohammad Shahid, Jahurul Islam, Nadif Chowdhury, Saqlain Sajib, Joe Denly (England), Akeal Hosein, Syed Khaled Ahmed, Shadman Islam, Noor Hossain Saddam.
Chittagong Vikings: Soumya Sarkar (Icon), Yasir Arafat, Misbah-ul-Haq (Pakistan), Luke Ronchi (wk) (New Zealand), Jermaine Blackwood (Windies), Sikandar Raza (Zimbabwe), Luis Reece, Liam Dawson (England), Jeevan Mendis (Sri Lanka), Najibullah Zadran (Afghanistan), Anamul Haque (wk), Taskin Ahmed, Subashis Roy, Sunzamul Islam, Al-Amin, Alauddin Babu, Tanbir Hayder, Irfan Sukkur, Naeem Hasan.
Comilla Victorians: Tamim Iqbal (Icon), Imrul Kayes, Marlon Samuels, Darren Bravo (Windies), Shoaib Malik (Pakistan), Jos Buttler (England), Solomon Mire (Zimbabwe), Mohammed Nabi (Afghanistan), Rashid Khan (Afghanistan), Hasan Ali, Rumman Raees, Fahim Ashraf, Imran Khan Jr (Pakistan), Liton Das (wk), Mohammad Saifuddin, Al-Amin Hossain, Arafat Sunny, Alok Kapali, Mehidy Hasan, Mehedi Hasan Rana, Enamul Haque, Raqibul Hasan.
Khulna Titans: Mahmudullah (Icon), Rillee Roussow, Kyle Abbott (South Africa), Benny Howell, Jofra Archer, Dawid Malan (England), Chadwick Walton, Carlos Brathwaite (Windies), Shadab Khan, Sarfraz Ahmed, Junaid Khan (Pakistan), Shehan Jayasurya, Seekkuge Prasanna (Sri Lanka), Mosharraf Hossain, Shafiul Islam, Nazmul Hossain Shanto, Abu Jayed Rahi, Afif Hossain, Yasir Ali Chowdhury, Imran Ali, Mukter Ali, Dhiman Ghosh, Saif Hassan, Ariful Haque.
Rangpur Riders: Mashrafe Mortaza (Icon), David Willey, Ravi Bopara, Adam Lyth (England), Thisara Perera, Kusal Perera (Sri Lanka), Samuel Badree, Johnson Charles (Windies), Mohammad Mithun, Sohag Gazi, Rubel Hossain, Shahriar Nafees, Nazmul Islam Apu, Ziaur Rahman, Fazle Mahmud, Sam Hain, Samiullah Shenwari, Abdur Razzak, Ebadat Hossain, Elias Sunny, Nahidul Islam, Zahir Khan.
Sylhet Sixers: Sabbir Rahman (Icon), Babar Azam (Pakistan), Krishmar Santokie, Usman Khan Shinwari, Andre McCarthy, Andre Fletcher (Windies), Davy Jacobs (South Africa), Liam Plunkett, Ross Whiteley (England), Chaturanga de Silva, Dasun Shanaka (Sri Lanka), Nasir Hossain, Nurul Hasan, Wanidu Hasaranga, Taijul Islam, Abul Hasan, Shuvagata Hom, Kamrul Islam Rabbi, Nabil Samad, Ghulam Mudasser Khan, Mohammad Sharif, Imtiaz Hossain and Mohammad Sharifullah.
Source: BSS
