BPL 2019: All you need to know about the T20 tournament

After the General Elections, which took place on Sunday, December 30, made the headlines in the country, the 2019 version of the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) is scheduled to get underway on Saturday, January 5, and will continue until Friday, February 8. The drafts for the upcoming edition took place on October 28 (Sunday) at Radisson Blu Dhaka Water Garden from 12 pm onwards.

A total of 186 local and 368 foreign players went under the hammer. Previously, the teams had retained a few of their players. The T20 tournament saw the daylight after which match-fixing scandals marred the extravaganza. Next time around, Dhaka, Sylhet and Chittagong will host the 46 matches. Rangpur Riders are the defending champions as they won the previous edition, beating Dhaka Dynamites.

Squads for BPL 2019

Rangpur Riders

The Riders, owned by Basundhara Group, had an impressive campaign last time. They finished fourth on the points table after winning six out of 12 matches. After qualifying for the playoffs, there was no stopping them and they won three matches in a row to win the title. This year, they would be led by Bangladesh ODI captain Mashrafe Mortaza and they would be coached by Tom Moody.

Squad:

Mashrafe Mortaza, Nazmul Islam, Mohammad Mithun, Chris Gayle, Alex Hales, AB de Villiers, Shafiul Islam, Sohag Gazi, Farhad Reza, Mehedi Maruf, Ravi Bopara, Rilee Rossouw, Nahidul Islam, Nadif Chowdhury, Abul Hasan, Benny Howell, Oshane Thomas

Dhaka Dynamites

The Dynamites, owned by Beximco Group, finished on the second spot after the league stage with seven wins from 12 matches. After beating Comilla Victorians in the Qualifier 1, they couldn’t hold on to their form against Rangpur in the final in Dhaka. Next year, the three-time champions would be led by the enigmatic Shakib Al Hasan under the tutelage of Khaled Mahmud.

Squad:

Shakib Al Hasan, Sunil Narine, Kieron Pollard, Rovman Powell, Hazratullah Zazai, Andre Russell, Rubel Hossain, Nurul Hasan, Rony Talukdar, Shuvagata Hom, Andrew Birch, Ian Bell, Qazi Onik, Mohammad Asif Hasan, Naim Sheikh

Comilla Victorians

The Victorians did exceptionally in the league stage with nine wins from 12 matches. However, they slumped to consecutive defeats in the playoffs against Dhaka and Rangpur respectively. In the next edition, the team owned by Legends Sporting Limited, would be captained by dashing left-handed batsman Tamim Iqbal under head coach Mohammad Salahuddin.

Squad:

Tamim Iqbal, Imrul Kayes, Mohammad Saifuddin, Shoaib Malik, Asela Gunaratne, Liam Dawson, Abu Hider Rony, Anamul Haque, Ziaur Rahman, Shahid Afridi, Thisara Perera, Mosharraf Hossain, Mohammad Shahid, Shamsur Rahman, Sanjit Saha, Evin Lewis, Waqar Salamkheil, Aamer Yamin

Chittagong Vikings

The Vikings, owned by DBL Group, finished as the cellar dwellers last season as they could only win three out their 12 matches in the league phase. In the next edition, they would be captained by wicketkeeper-batsman Mushfiqur Rahim under the tutelage of Nurul Abedin. The squad also has Mohammad Ashraful, who would be making a comeback to the tournament after quite a few years.

Squad:

Sunzamul Islam, Sikandar Raza, Luke Ronchi, Mushfiqur Rahim, Mohammad Shahzad, Robbie Frylinck, Mosaddek Hossain, Abu Jayed, Khaled Ahmed, Nayeem Hasan, Cameron Delport, Dasun Shanaka, Mohammad Ashraful, Robiul Haque, Yasir Ali, Nihaduzzaman, Najibullah Zadran, Shadman Islam

Khulna Titans

The Titans are a franchise, owned by Gemcon Group and they finished third in the points table in the 2017 edition of the tournament. They won seven out of 12 matches and then bowed out after their loss in the Eliminator against Rangpur. They would be captained by Mahmudullah Riyad and would be coached by former Sri Lankan captain Mahela Jayawardena.

Squad:

Mahmudullah, Ariful Haque, Nazmul Hossain Shanto, Carlos Brathwaite, Dawid Malan, Jahurul Islam, Shariful Islam, Taijul Islam, Al-Amin, Zahir Khan, Sherfane Rutherford, Subashis Roy, Junaid Siddique, Mahidul Islam Ankon, Tanvir Islam, Lasith Malinga, Yasir Shah, Brendan Taylor, Paul Stirling

Rajshahi Kings

The Kings, owned by Mango Entertainment, finished second last in the points table in 2017 and they would be looking to make amends. They could only win four out of their 12 matches. They would be led by left-handed batsman Mehidy Hasan under former South Africa all-rounder Lance Klusener. Rajshahi are yet to win the mega tournament.

Squad:

Mominul Haque, Mehidy Hasan, Mustafizur Rahman, Zakir Hasan, Qais Ahmad, Christiaan Jonker, Soumya Sarkar, Fazle Mahmud, Arafat Sunny, Alauddin Babu, Isuru Udana, Laurie Evans, Marshall Ayub, Kamrul Islam, Ryan ten Doeschate, Seekkuge Prasanna, Mohammad Sami, Mohammad Hafeez

Sylhet Sixers

The Sixers are a franchise owned by Sylhet Sports and they had a disappointing season last time as they could only win four out of the 12 matches. They are also one of the teams, which are yet to get their hands on the coveted trophy. They would be captained by David Warner in the next season and would have former Pakistani fast bowler Waqar Younis as the coach.

Squad:

Nasir Hossain, Sabbir Rahman, Liton Das, Sohail Tanvir, David Warner, Sandeep Lamichhane, Afif Hossain, Taskin Ahmed, Al-Amin Hossain, Towhid Hridoy, Fabian Allen, Mohammad Irfan, Nabil Samad, Ebadat Hossain, Alok Kapali, Jaker Ali, Gulbadin Naib, Andre Fletcher, Mehedi Hasan Rana, Patrick Brown, Nicholas Pooran

Fixtures

Phase 1 (January 05-13) – Sher-E-Bangla Stadium, Dhaka

05  01. 2019      Rangpur Riders vs Chittagong Vikings
05. 01. 2019      Dhaka Dynamites vs Rajshahi Kings
06. 01. 2019      Comilla Victorians vs Sylhet Sixers
06. 01. 2019      Khulna Titans vs Rangpur Riders.
08. 01. 2019      Dhaka Dynamites vs Khulna Titans
08. 01. 2019      Comilla Victorians vs Rangpur Riders
09. 01. 2019      Sylhet Sixers vs Chittagong Vikings.
09. 01. 2019      Khulna Titans vs Rajshahi Kings.
11. 01. 2019      Dhaka Dynamites vs Rangpur Riders
11. 01. 2019      Comilla Victorians vs Rajshahi Kings
12. 01. 2019      Chittagong Vikings vs Khulna Titans
12. 01. 2019      Dhaka Dynamites vs Sylhet Sixers
13. 01. 2019      Rangpur Riders vs Rajshahi Kings
13. 01. 2019      Chittagong Vikings vs Comilla Victorians

Phase 2 (January 15-19) – Sylhet International Cricket Stadium

15. 01. 2019      Khulna Titans vs Rajshahi Kings
15. 01. 2019      Sylhet Sixers vs Comilla Victorians
16. 01. 2019      Dhaka Dynamites vs Rajshahi Kings
16. 01. 2019      Sylhet Sixers vs Rangpur Riders
18. 01. 2019      Sylhet Sixers vs Dhaka Dynamites
18. 01. 2019      Khulna Titans vs Comilla Victorians
19. 01. 2019      Sylhet Sixers vs Rangpur Riders
19. 01. 2019      Chittagong Vikings vs Khulna Titans

Phase 3 (January 21-23) – Sher-E-Bangla Stadium, Dhaka

21  01. 2019      Comilla Victorians vs Rajshahi Kings
21. 01. 2019      Dhaka Dynamites vs Chittagong Vikings
22. 01. 2019      Khulna Titans vs Rangpur Riders
22. 01. 2019      Dhaka Dynamites vs Comilla Victorians
23. 01. 2019      Chittagong Vikings vs Rajshahi Kings
23. 01. 2019      Khulna Titans vs Sylhet Sixers.

Phase 4 (January 25-30) – Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium, Chittagong

25. 01. 2019      Sylhet Sixers vs Rajshahi Kings
25. 01. 2019      Chittagong Vikings vs Rangpur Riders.
26. 01. 2019      Sylhet Sixers vs Khulna Titans
26. 01. 2019      Chittagong Vikings vs Rajshahi Kings
28. 01. 2019      Khulna Titans vs Comilla Victorians
28. 01. 2019      Dhaka Dynamites vs Rangpur Riders
29. 01. 2019      Rangpur Riders vs Rajshahi Kings
29. 01. 2019      Chittagong Vikings vs Comilla Victorians.
30. 01. 2019      Chittagong Vikings vs Dhaka Dynamites
30. 01. 2019      Sylhet Sixers vs Rajshahi Kings

Phase 5 (February 1-8) – Shere Bangla National Cricket Stadium, Dhaka

01. 02. 2019      Dhaka Dynamites vs Comilla Victorians
01. 02. 2019      Chittagong Vikings vs Sylhet Sixers

02. 02. 2019     Comilla Victorians vs Rangpur Riders

02. 02. 2019      Dhaka Dynamites vs Khulna Titans

04. 02. 2019      Eliminator (Third team vs Fourth team in the point table

04. 02. 2019      Qualifier 1 (First team vs Second team in the point table)

06. 02. 2019      Qualifier 2 (losing team of Qualifier 1 vs winning team of Eliminator)

08. 02. 2019      Final (Winning teams of Qualifier 1 vs Qualifier 2)
09. 02. 2019      Reserve Day (Final)

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