The players’ draft of Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) was held at the Hotel Radisson Blu in the city on Sunday.
Mushfiqur’s fee as an A+ player from Bangladesh is between USD 50,000 and 93,000. But overseas cricketers in the same bracket cost USD 200,000. Shahid Afridi and Evin Lewis were bought at that price by Comilla Victorians. The first foreign pick in the draft, though, was little-known West Indies allrounder Fabian Allen, who went to Sylhet Sixers for USD 30,000
The big interest among the local picks was Mohammad Ashraful, who qualified to play in the BPL in August this year after serving a five-year match-fixing-related ban. He was picked up by Chittagong Vikings. Among the local players, wicketkeeper-batsman Jahurul Islam was the draft’s first overall pick and he went to Khulna Titans.
Khulna added Lasith Malinga to their roster from category A, apart from legspinner Yasir Shah, Afghanistan left-arm legspinner Zahir Khan and Zimbabwe batsman Brendan Taylor. Rajshahi opted for Soumya Sarkar as their first local pick, and used their first overseas-player quota to pick Sri Lanka’s left-arm seamer Isuru Udana. They also took Netherlands’ Ryan ten Doeschate, Sri Lanka’s Seekugge Prasanna and uncapped England batsman Laurie Evans.
South Africa’s Cameron Delport and Sri Lanka’s Dasun Shanaka went to Chittagong, while Ian Bell found a place with Dhaka Dynamites. Apart from Afridi and Lewis, Comilla went for Thisara Perera, a strong performer for Rangpur in the previous season.
Rangpur picked Shafiul Islam and Sohag Gazi in the local players’ first round. They retained Ravi Bopara and took Rilee Rossouw and West Indies fast bowler Oshane Thomas.
Following are the full squads of seven franchises:
Rangpur Riders: Mashrafe Bin Mortaza, Chris Gayle, Nazmul Islam Apu, Mohammad Mithun, AB de Villiers, Alex Hales, Shafiul Islam, Sohag Gazi, Farhad Reza, Mehedi Maruf, Ravi Bopara, Rilee Rossouw, Nahidul Islam, Nadif Chowdhury, Abul Hasan Raju, Fardeen Hossain Oni, Benny Howell and Oshane Thomas.
Dhaka Dynamites: Shakib Al Hasan, Sunil Narine, Kieron Pollard, Rovman Powell, Hazratullah Zazai, Andre Russell, Rubel Hossain, Nurul Hasan, Rony Talukdar, Shuvagata Hom, Andrew Birch, Ian Bell, Qazi Onik, Mizanur Rahman, Asif Hasan, Shahadat Hossain, Naim Sheikh.
Rajshahi Kings: Mominul Haque, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Mustafizur Rahman, Zakir Hasan, Qais Ahmed, Christiaan Jonker, Soumya Sarkar, Fazle Mahmud, Arafat Sunny, Alauddin Babu, Isuru Udana, Laurie Evans, Marshall Ayub, Kamrul Islam Rabbi, Ryan ten Doeschate, Seekugge Prasanna, Mohammad Sami.
Chittagong Vikings: Sunzamul Islam, Sikandar Raza, Luke Ronchi, Mushfiqur Rahim, Mohammad Shahzad, Robbie Frylinck, Mosaddek Hossain, Abu Jayed, Khaled Ahmed, Nayeem Hasan, Cameron Delport, Dasun Shanaka, Mohammad Ashraful, Robiul Haque, Yasir Ali, Nihaduzzaman, Najibullah Zadran, Shadman Islam.
Sylhet Sixers: Nasir Hossain, Sabbir Rahman, Liton Das, Sohail Tanvir, David Warner, Sandeep Lamichhane, Afif Hossain, Taskin Ahmed, Al-Amin Hossain, Towhid Hridoy, Fabian Allen, Mohammad Irfan, Nabil Samad, Ebadat Hossain, Alok Kapali, Jaker Ali, Gulbadin Naib, Andre Fletcher, Mehedi Hasan Rana, Pat Brown, Nicholas Pooran.
Khulna Titans: Mahmudullah, Ariful Haque, Nazmul Hossain Shanto, Carlos Brathwaite, Dawid Malan, Ali Khan, Jahurul Islam, Shariful Islam, Taijul Islam, Al-Amin, Zahir Khan, Sherfane Rutherford, Subashis Roy, Junaid Siddique, Tanvir Islam Mahidul Islam Ankan, Lasith Malinga, Yasir Shah, Brendan Taylor.
Comilla Victorians: Tamim Iqbal, Imrul Kayes, Mohammad Saifuddin, Shoaib Malik, Asela Gunaratne, Liam Dawson, Abu Hider Rony, Anamul Haque Bijoy, Mehedi Hasan, Ziaur Rahman, Shahid Afridi, Thisara Perera, Mosharraf Hossain, Mohammad Shahid, Shamsur Rahman, Sanjit Saha, Evin Lewis, Waqar Salmakhai, Amer Yamin.
