BPL players’ draft on December 27, game on from January 21

The players’ draft for the upcoming Bangabandhu Bangladesh Premier League will take place on December 27 at a city hotel, said a media release from the Bangladesh Cricket Board.

The BCB also announced that the T20 tournament will start on January 21, and the final will take place on February 18, 2022.

Six teams will be taking part in this T20 tournament, where 34 matches will take place across three venues in a double round-robin format followed by three playoffs and a final.

The venues are- Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium, Dhaka; Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium Chattogram and Sylhet International Cricket Stadium Sylhet.

BCB also revealed the six owner entities of the six franchise teams. The Dhaka franchise is owned by Rupa Fabrics Ltd & Marn Steel Ltd (Consortium), Akhtar group owns the rights for Chattogram franchise, Comilla Legends got the ownership rights for team Cumilla, Barishal franchise is owned by Fortune Shoes limited, Mindtree bagged the ownership rights of Khulna, and the rights for Sylhet franchise is owned by Pragoti Green Auto Rice Mills Ltd.

This time, the BCB has sold the franchise ownership rights for only this edition of the tournament. Therefore many reputed companies attached with the BPL previously, such as Beximco, Gemcon, and Basundhara group, did not come forward.

In the players’ draft, each team can register a minimum of 10 and a maximum of 14 local players.

In the foreign player category, each team can register a minimum of three and a maximum of eight overseas players, with three overseas players must be included in the playing XI.

Out of the draft, each team can sign one local player and up to three foreign players as direct signings.

The BCB has divided all the interested local players into six categories based on their remuneration.

The highest remuneration package is for category A cricketers which are Taka 70 lakhs and the lowest is Taka five lakhs for category F cricketers.

For foreign cricketers, the highest salary cap is $75,000 and the lowest is $20,000.