The much-talked about players’ draft programme for recruitment of local and overseas players for the third edition of Bangladesh Premier League will be held today at a city hotel amid chaos.
Though only one franchise has formally announced its name and logo so far, the players will be allotted to six teams much earlier than the original schedule in order to give them more time to gel as a unit.
The original date for the players’ draft was scheduled on October 31, but the BPL authority brought the date forward at least twice following the requests from the franchises.
Around 300 local and international players are to be drafted to the teams through a lottery system, first heard in Bangladesh in 2012-13 when the Bangladesh Cricket Board announced a ‘players-by-choice’ system for the Dhaka Primer League.
Certain overseas players would be dropped from the draft list provided the teams can submit the documents of getting their signature.
As of Wednesday evening, only Rangpur franchise submitted a small list while others were still struggling to get their papers ready. According to the rules a team can sign 13 overseas cricketers, nine of whom could be purchased in individual capacity.
BPL officials however indicated they may finally have to put faith in words of franchise officials as time is limited for
them.
However, all local players, including six icons, must be recruited through players’ draft. The lottery of icon players will be held before the formal players’ draft starts at 10am.
Tamim Iqbal, one of the six icons, said he is ready to play for any franchise though he prefers his hometown Chittagong in the tournament.
‘Everyone wants to play for their home team like someone who is from Dhaka naturally wants to play for Dhaka while I would prefer playing for Chittagong,’ Tamim said at a programme.
‘At the end of the day we all are professionals and we would play where we are destined.
‘We would try to perform well wherever we play. Naturally I would be happy if I play for Chittagong but that does not mean I would be hurt if I play elsewhere.
‘I will try to fulfill the reasons for which they had taken me and want to give my best performance. Let’s wait for tomorrow to see where we play,’ he added.
BCB vice-president Mahbub Anam will conduct the draft ceremony where cricketers are bracketed in four different grades as A, B, C and D.
-With New Age input
