Barishal, Comilla form strong teams

Barisal and Comilla have assembled strong squads with a blend of quality foreign recruits with proven local cricketers to challenge the start-studded Dhaka franchise in the Bangladesh Premier League Players Draft, held at a city hotel on Monday afternoon.

In BPL, nothing lasts forever, and after the dramatic last moment changes in the franchise ownership, BCB now controls the Dhaka franchise. They formed a strong team with Mahmudulllah Riyad, Tamim Iqbal, and Mashrafe Mortaza on their side.

Most of the time in domestic cricket, these three cricketers play for different entities, creating a healthy rivalry but now they have been assembled in one team, which might outweigh others.

Dhaka picked three Afghans as their foreign signings- Najibullah Zadran, Qais Ahmed, and Fazalhaq Farooqi, along with Sri Lankan all-rounder Isuru Udana.

Tamim, Dhaka’s first pick, later joined the table with other representatives like national selector Habibul Bashar, BCB’s Deputy Manager of Cricket Operations Shahriar Nafees, and direct signing Mahmudullah.

After the draft, Tamim said, "I am feeling very nostalgic. We three (Tamim, Mashrafe, and Mahmudullah) have played so many matches for Bangladesh, and now we will be again in the same dressing room. Mashrafe bhai is not playing international cricket anymore. I was also out of T20 for a long time, so haven't shared time with Riyad Bhai (Mahmudullah). When we three are there, we will surely have fun," he said.

Comilla Victorians had the opportunity to make the first call of the day, and they picked Liton Das at the very first chance.

Though Liton struggled at the ICC T20 World Cup, for which he received harsh criticism, but he could be very useful in a BPL where top-quality cricketers are missing.

Comilla picked Mustafizur Rahman as their direct signing and added some seasoned local players like Imrul Kayes, Mominul Haque, and the quickest T20 centurion of Bangladesh Parvez Hossain Emon. But their main strength is the foreign player base.

The Victorians signed Faf Du Plessis, Sunil Narine, and Moeen Ali outside of the draft list, and from the draft, they picked Kusal Mendis and Oshane Thomas, giving them balance and depth in all three departments.

At present, the Bangladesh government has some strict rules for passengers coming from some selected countries of Africa, including South Africa.

Nafisa Kamal, the chairperson of Comilla Victorians, said they are making all the arrangements so that Du Plessis can play from the first match.

"We have made all the arrangements. Where will he take transit, where will he stay, and how will he come- everything is chalked out, and we are hopeful he will be available from day one," she said after the draft.

Barisal roped in Shakib Al Hasan as the direct signing, Chris Gayle from outside the draft, and will have the services of Afghan spinner Mujeeb-ur-Rahman.

Besides them, they have assembled cricketers like Nurul Hasan Sohan, Najmul Hossain Shanto from the draft, and two Caribbean pacers, Obed Maccoy and Alzarri Joseph.

Chattagram Challengers have formed a youth-based team with Nasum Ahmed as the direct signing, and they also went for players like Shamim Hossain, Shoriful Islam, Afif Hossain, and Akbar Ali. They also got some utility foreign recruits like Rayad Emrit, Chadwick Walton, and Kenner Lewis.

Khulna Tigers have Mushfiqur Rahim as their direct signing and picked three Sri Lankans- Bhanuka Rajapakse, Thisara Perrera, and Sekkuge Prasanna. Along with them, Khulna roped in Shak Mahedi Hasan and Soumya Sarkar to form the core group.

Sylhet Sunrisers look plain and simple on paper as they have Mohammad Mithun, Taskin Ahmed, Anamul Haque, Sohag Gazi, and Alok Kapali in their squad, which looks like a blast from the past, but all of them have a wealth of experience in local cricket.

In the foreign segment, they picked Dinesh Chandimal, Kesrick Williams, Ravi Bopara, and Colin Alexandar.