BPL title holders Rangpur Riders rope in AB de Villiers

The sixth edition of the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) is set to be an exciting contest. A day after it was learned that dashing Australian opener David Warner will play for the Sylhet Sixers in the upcoming edition in January-February next year, defending champions Rangpur Riders roped in former South African star batsman AB de Villiers to make their campaign even stronger.

De Villiers to pair up with Chris Gayle once again

The Proteas great quit international cricket earlier this year, leaving the fans dejected and depressed, but his consequent decisions to play for T20 leagues like in the Pakistan Super League and now the BPL will revive the supporters who love witnessing the talented batsman in full flow. He will join a team which has the likes of Gayle (a return to the Royal Challengers Bangalore days) and England basher Alex Hales.

The Riders retained Gayle after his explosive batting in last year’s final against the Dhaka Dynamites that the Riders won by 57 runs while Hales was signed up earlier this month. De Villiers, who recently rubbished rumours of his comeback to international cricket, has scored over 20,000 international runs in 114 Tests, 228 ODIs and 78 T20Is with 47 hundreds. In T20s, he has scored 6,649 runs in 251 matches with three hundreds and a strike rate of over 147.

The BPL franchises have also hired players from non-regular nations like Sandeep Lamichhane of Nepal and Ali Khan of the USA. Dhaka Dynamites have roped in 20-year-old Afghanistani batting sensation Hazratullah Zazai who hit six sixes in an over in a game in the recently held Afghanistan Premier League.

Each team in the BPL has six players in their respective squads ahead of their draft. Each team can sign a maximum of 12 local and nine foreign players. Each side must have four foreign players in their playing XI in the current season.
The sixth edition of the BPL will clash with the UAE 20X and the Big Bash League, Australia.

Get the latest Cricket News and updates from Bangladesh Premier League, Match Predictions, Fantasy Cricket Tips and lots more on CricTracker.com.