The players' draft of the 9th Bangladesh Premier League T20 is set to be held on November 23. BPL T20 Governing Council chairman Sheikh Sohel confirmed the date to the media. According to the highest authority of the country's lone franchise T20 tournament, the draft will take place at 12pm at a city hotel.
The seven franchises have already started preparing for the draft.
As part of the preparation for the upcoming season, the seven franchises have roped in a local cricketer under the direct local signing policy, and also a good bunch of foreign cricketers. The teams from the draft will now have to pick a minimum of 11 local cricketers and two overseas players.
Sylhet Strikers have signed veteran cricketer Mashrafe bin Mortaza, while Khulna Tigers recruited ODI captain cum opener Tamim Iqbal. Star all-rounder Shakib al Hasan has found home in Fortune Barishal.
@CricketAus wrapped up the three-match one-day international series with a comprehensive 72-run win over @ECB_cricket at Sydney Cricket Ground Saturday.https://t.co/FTFM877tPT
— Dhaka Tribune Sports (@Sport_DT) November 19, 2022
Former champions Cumilla Victorians and Rangpur Riders have brought in left-arm pacer Mustafizur Rahman and wicketkeeper-batter Nurul Hasan as part of the one local direct signing. Chattogram Challengers have signed young middle-order batter Afif Hossain.
Dhaka franchise took on the pace late, and signed right-arm pacer Taskin Ahmed as part of local direct signing. Bangladesh Cricket Board had initially awarded the Dhaka franchise rights for the next three editions of the BPL to M/s Progati Auto Rice Mills Limited.
This however, got terminated automatically due to failure in meeting the financial obligations by Progati within the stipulated deadline.
Subsequently, the BPL GC awarded the franchise rights of Dhaka to Rupa Fabrics Ltd, one of the participants in the Expression of Interest process.
The participating sides have also secured overseas options as part of direct signings.
Heavy rain in Wellington forced the cancellation of the opening Twenty20 match between New Zealand and India on Friday without a ball being bowled.https://t.co/NT2v1OUOgn
— Dhaka Tribune Sports (@Sport_DT) November 18, 2022
Though the BPL GC had initially set a limitation on the foreign players, the policy was lifted after the teams struggled to find quality overseas cricketers available during the time period, which clashes with three other T20 leagues – Big Bash, South Africa T20 and the Emirates International League T20.
Pakistan Super League also clashes but during the business stages of the BPL season.
The scarcity of the overseas players was somehow met with sudden availability of the Pakistani cricketers, who went available following cancellation of their international commitment in January 2022.
It is understood that Pakistan cricketers in shape of Shaheen Shah Afridi, Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan and others signed big contracts, keeping with the high demand from the BPL franchises.
