BCB announces number of foreign cricketers available for BPL 2017 Players' draft

The fifth edition of the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) is scheduled to start on November 2, 2017, with the defending champions, Dhaka Dynamites locking horns with Sylhet Surma Sixers at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium. A total of 7 teams will participate in the high-profile tournament that will be played at three different venues, including the latest inclusion, the Sylhet International Cricket Stadium in Bangladesh. The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) announced that the players’ draft for BPL 2017 is going to be held on September 16.

As per the BCB, a total of 208 foreign cricketers will take part in the draft. The exclusive players’ draft list has a major increase in the number when compared to the previous edition, as in BPL 2016, 168 cricketers participated in the draft. Many big T20 specialists from all over the world will be a part of the list this time given the kind of attention the domestic T20 tournament draws in Bangladesh and the level of competition.

The list of foreign cricketers include 62 from England while 46 Pakistani cricketers alongside 27 from West Indies, 26 Sri Lankans, 8 Zimbabweans and 6 cricketers from South Africa, Ireland, Afghanistan, UAE will be available for the players’ draft. Along with these, some player from Australia, New Zealand, Canada and USA are also in line to participate in the fifth edition of the Bangladesh Premier League.

BPL 2017 aims to be at par with other T20 leagues played around the globe and thus the board is making sure the celebrated names in T20 cricket are a part of the prolific tournament. The BCB further announced that all the 208 cricketers would be divided in six categories.

The first category will have 7 cricketers, there will be 8 in the second, 20 in the third, 100 in the fourth, 50 in the fifth and 23 players in the sixth category of the draft. BCB further stated that the highest and top most price for foreign cricketers will be 70,000$ and the lowest will be 10,000$.

Number of players available for the draft category wise