Mahela, Sanga among 23 overseas stars

The Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) 2016-17 draft saw 85 players – including 23 overseas ones allocated across seven franchises – picked through a lottery system last Friday. The T20 tournament is set to begin on November 4 in Dhaka.

After the franchises were allowed to retain two local players from the previous season, the two new franchises – Khulna Titans and Rajshahi Kings were given the chance to pick two each up front. While Khulna went for left-arm spinner Mosharraf Hossain and pacer Shafiul Islam, Rajshahi picked Nurul Hasan and allrounder Mehedi Hasan Miraz.

Among the foreign players, Carlos Brathwaite, who will be unavailable between November 10 and 28, was bagged by Dhaka, while Darren Sammy went to Rajshahi. Chris Gayle moved from Barisal Bulls to Chittagong Vikings for this season, while Kumar Sangakkara extended his stay with the Dhaka Dynamites by another season.

Sangakkara will be joined by fellow Sri Lankan, Mahela Jayawardene, who is part of the Dynamites’ squad, that also boast of a number of all-rounders like Andre Russell, Dwayne Bravo, Ravi Bopara and Shakib al Hasan.

Other Sri Lankan players who will appear in the BPL are Dilshan Munaweera (Barisal Bulls), Chaturanga de Silva and Jeevan Mendis (both Chittagong Vikings), Thisara Perera and Nuwan Kulasekara (both Comilla Victorians), Sachithra Senanayake and Gihan Rupasinghe (both Rangpur Riders), Milinda Siriwardana and Upul Tharanga (both Rajshahi Kings).

While many Pakistan players joined various sides, Shahid Afridi moved to Rangpur Riders alongside Sharjeel Khan and Nasir Jamshed.

Squads:

Barisal Bulls: Rumman Raees, Dilshan Munaweera, Mushfiqur Rahim, Al-Amin Hossain, Taijul Islam, Mohammad Nawaz, Carlos Brathwaite, Shamsur Rahman, Abu Hider, Kamrul Islam Rabbi, Nadif Chowdhury, Josh Cobb, Mahedi Hasan, Monir Hossain Khan, Shahriar Nafees

Chittagong Vikings: Tamim Iqbal, Anamul Haque, Chris Gayle, Dwayne Smith, Shoaib Malik, Mohammad Nabi, Taskin Ahmed, Chaturanga de Silva, Grant Elliott, Imran Khan jnr, Abdur Razzak, Subashis Roy, Jahurul Islam, Nazmul Hossain Milon, Jeevan Mendis, Tymal Mills, Zakir Hasan, Saqlain Sajib, Shahidul Islam, Yasir Ali Chowdhury, Jubair Hossain

Comilla Victorians: Imrul Kayes, Liton Das, Ashar Zaidi, Imad Wasim, Thisara Perera, Mashrafe Mortaza, Sohail Tanvir, Nuwan Kulasekera, Rashid Khan, Rovman Powell, Khalid Latif, Shahzaib Hasan, Al-Amin, Nazmul Hossain Shanto, Nahidul Islam, Mohammad Saifuddin, Jason Holder, Mohammad Sharif, Nabil Samad, Jasimuddin, Saikat Ali, Rasel Al Mamun

Dhaka Dynamites: Evin Lewis, Mahela Jayawardene, Kumar Sangakkara, Shakib Al Hasan, Ravi Bopara, Nasir Hossain, Mosaddek Hossain, Andre Russell, Dwayne Bravo, Seekugge Prasanna, Wayne Parnell, Sanjamul Islam, Alauddin Babu, Suhrawadi Shuvo, Mehedi Maruf, Usama Mir, Mohammad Shahid, Irfan Shukkur, Tanveer Haider

Khulna Titans: Mahmudullah, Nicholas Pooran, Riki Wessels, Kevon Cooper, Mohammad Asghar, Benny Howell, Mosharraf Hossain, Lendl Simmons, Ben Laughlin, Shuvagata Hom, Ariful Haque, Abdul Majid, Alok Kapali, Andre Fletcher, Junaid Khan, Hasanuzzaman, Naeem Islam jnr, Noor Hossain Saddam, Taibur Rahman, Abdul Halim, Shafiul Islam

Rangpur Riders: Soumya Sarkar, Sharjeel Khan, Mohammad Shahzad, Gidron Pope, Mohammad Mithun, Babar Azam, Shahid Afridi, Dasun Shanaka, Arafat Sunny, Richard Gleeson, Nasir Jamshed, Sachithra Senanayake, Rubel Hossain, Sohag Gazi, Ziaur Rahman, Naeem Islam, Gihan Rupasinghe, Elias Sunny, Pinak Ghosh, Muktar Ali, Mehrab Hossain, Shahbaz Chouhan

Rajshahi Kings: Sabbir Rahman, Darren Sammy, Mohammad Sami, Nurul Hasan, Milinda Siriwardana, Upul Tharanga, Mominul Haque, Farhad Reza, Nazmul Islam, Raqibul Hasan, Samit Patel, Abul Hasan, Rony Talukdar, Salman Hossain, Ebadot Hossain, Mehedi Hasan Miraz.