Sports Desk : dhakamirror.com
At the BPL Players’ Draft held at a city hotel on Sunday, veteran cricketer Mushfiqur Rahim was selected by Fortune Barishal after being given the opportunity to call first, according to a BSS report.
In this move he joined Tamim Iqbal and Mahmudullah Riyad.
The top category out of the six categories, category A for local players, with a price cap of TK 80 lakh, Mushfiqur was the only player.
Tamim joined Barishal from Khulna Tigers while Mahmudullah was their retained player. There was a lottery system which determined which team will call first and Barishal’s was the No. 3 team to call.
However, Rangpur Riders was the first team to call a player but they roped in Rony Talukdar. Riders, earlier, acquired Shakib Al Hasan on direct signing and retained most of the players who played for the team in the last season.
Pakistan Captain Babar Azam will also play for Riders in this season.
The current runners-up Sylhet Strikers were the second team to call their player and they recruited Mohammad Mithun.
So, Mushfiqur who was denied twice got a team in the third bid when Barishal called him.
The Category B, with price tag of BDT 5.0 million, comprised the players like Imrul Kayes, Ebadot Hossain, Rony Talukdar and Afif Hossain.
Kayes led Cumilla Victorians to the BPL title thrice including the last time, to emulate most successful BPL captain Mashrafe Bin Mortaza. But while Mashrafe was retained by Sylhet Strikers, Kayes received another fate.
Cumilla didn’t retain him and though they picked him up from the draft, they did it at the last moment.
Cumilla, however, are a star-studded side with the likes of Mohammad Rizwan,
Sunil Narine, Towhid Hridoy, Moeen Ali, Andre Russell, Iftikhar Ahmed, Johnson Charles, Nur Ahmed, Nasim Shah and Rashid Khan playing for the team once again.
Ebadot, however, didn’t get any team as he would be in rehab following his knee injury. Khulna Tigers obtained Afif from Category B.
The likes of Mominul Haque, Mohammad Ashraful and Sabbir Rahman were the notable names who were not picked up by any team.
