The fourth edition of the Bangladesh Premier League is all set to begin, with the first match to take place at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium on November 4. There will 46 matches, including three play-off games and the final. They will be held in Dhaka and Chittagong and will run for over a month, with the final slated for December 9.
PLAYERS' DRAFT: The Players' Draft will be held on the 30th of September. Each team must draft a minimum of eight and a maximum of 11 players must be selected from the draft. The two new BPL teams (Rajshahi and Khulna) will get the first pick from each category and the second pick from the B,C and D categories.
FOREIGN PLAYERS: A total of 168 foreign players have registered for the league. Each team must pick a minimum of three and a maximum of 12 foreign players, with four players present in the starting eleven of each match.
PLAYER RETENTION: Each franchise can choose to retain two local players from the previous edition, pending the approval of the BPL Technical Committee.
FOREIGN PLAYERS BOUGHT BY FRANCHISES
Barisal Bulls: Dilshan Munaweera.
Chittagong Vikings: Chris Gayle, Dwayne Smith, Shoaib Malik, Chaturanga De Silva, Mohammad Nabi.
Comilla Victorians: Sohail Tanvir, Imad Waseem, AsharZaidi, Nuwan Kulasekara, Thisara Perera.
Dhaka Dynamites: Kumar Sangakkara, Andre Russel, Mahela Jayawardene, Dwayne Bravo, Evin Lewis, Ravi Bopara.
Khulna Titans: Nicholas Pooran, Riki Wessels, Kevon Cooper, Mohammad Asghar, Benny Howell.
Rajshahi Rockers: Darren Sammy, Mohammad Sami.
Rangpur Riders: Shahid Afridi, Sharjeel Khan, Babar Azam, Mohammad Shahzad, Dasun Shanaka, Gidron Damien Pope, Richard James Gleeson.