85 players, including 23 foreigners picked in BPL 2016-17 draft

Eighty-five players, including 23 overseas players, were allocated through a lottery during the BPL 2016-17 drafts in Dhaka on Friday. This season’s BPL starts from November 4 in Dhaka.

Two new franchises – Khulna Titans and Rajshahi Kings were given the chance to pick two each up front. Khulna went for left-arm spinner Mosharraf Hossain and pacer Shafiul Islam and Rajshahi picked Nurul Hasan and all-rounder Mehedi Hasan Miraz. The old franchises were also allowed to retain two local players from the previous season.

Tamim Iqbal will once again play for Chittagong, Mushfiqur Rahim for Barisal and Mahmudullah for Khulna while Mashrafe bin Mortaza was retained by defending champions Comilla Victorians. Sabbir Rahman and Soumya Sarkar will feature for Rajshahi and Rangpur Riders.

Among the foreign players, Carlos Brathwaite, who will be unavailable between November 10 and 28, was bagged by Dhaka, while Darren Sammy went to Rajshahi. Chris Gayle moved from Barisal Bulls to Chittagong Vikings for this season, while Kumar Sangakkara extended his stay with the Dhaka Dynamites by another season.

Sangakkara will be joined by fellow Sri Lankan, Mahela Jayawardene, who is part of the Dynamites’ squad, that also boast of a number of all-rounders like Andre Russell, Dwayne Bravo, Ravi Bopara and Shakib al Hasan.

While many Pakistan players joined various sides, Shahid Afridi moved to Rangpur Riders alongside Sharjeel Khan and Nasir Jamshed.

Squads:

Barisal Bulls: Rumman Raees, Dilshan Munaweera, Mushfiqur Rahim, Al-Amin Hossain, Taijul Islam, Mohammad Nawaz, Carlos Brathwaite, Shamsur Rahman, Abu Hider, Kamrul Islam Rabbi, Nadif Chowdhury, Josh Cobb, Mahedi Hasan, Monir Hossain Khan, Shahriar Nafees

Chittagong Vikings: Tamim Iqbal, Anamul Haque, Chris Gayle, Dwayne Smith, Shoaib Malik, Mohammad Nabi, Taskin Ahmed, Chaturanga de Silva, Grant Elliott, Imran Khan jnr, Abdur Razzak, Subashis Roy, Jahurul Islam, Nazmul Hossain Milon, Jeevan Mendis, Tymal Mills, Zakir Hasan, Saqlain Sajib, Shahidul Islam, Yasir Ali Chowdhury, Jubair Hossain

Comilla Victorians: Imrul Kayes, Liton Das, Ashar Zaidi, Imad Wasim, Thisara Perera, Mashrafe Mortaza, Sohail Tanvir, Nuwan Kulasekera, Rashid Khan, Rovman Powell, Khalid Latif, Shahzaib Hasan, Al-Amin, Nazmul Hossain Shanto, Nahidul Islam, Mohammad Saifuddin, Jason Holder, Mohammad Sharif, Nabil Samad, Jasimuddin, Saikat Ali, Rasel Al Mamun

Dhaka Dynamites: Evin Lewis, Mahela Jayawardene, Kumar Sangakkara, Shakib Al Hasan, Ravi Bopara, Nasir Hossain, Mosaddek Hossain, Andre Russell, Dwayne Bravo, Seekugge Prasanna, Wayne Parnell, Sanjamul Islam, Alauddin Babu, Suhrawadi Shuvo, Mehedi Maruf, Usama Mir, Mohammad Shahid, Irfan Shukkur, Tanveer Haider

Khulna Titans: Mahmudullah, Nicholas Pooran, Riki Wessels, Kevon Cooper, Mohammad Asghar, Benny Howell, Mosharraf Hossain, Lendl Simmons, Ben Laughlin, Shuvagata Hom, Ariful Haque, Abdul Majid, Alok Kapali, Andre Fletcher, Junaid Khan, Hasanuzzaman, Naeem Islam jnr, Noor Hossain Saddam, Taibur Rahman, Abdul Halim, Shafiul Islam

Rangpur Riders: Soumya Sarkar, Sharjeel Khan, Mohammad Shahzad, Gidron Pope, Mohammad Mithun, Babar Azam, Shahid Afridi, Dasun Shanaka, Arafat Sunny, Richard Gleeson, Nasir Jamshed, Sachithra Senanayake, Rubel Hossain, Sohag Gazi, Ziaur Rahman, Naeem Islam, Gihan Rupasinghe, Elias Sunny, Pinak Ghosh, Muktar Ali, Mehrab Hossain, Shahbaz Chouhan

Rajshahi Kings: Sabbir Rahman, Darren Sammy, Mohammad Sami, Nurul Hasan, Milinda Siriwardana, Upul Tharanga, Mominul Haque, Farhad Reza, Nazmul Islam, Raqibul Hasan, Samit Patel, Abul Hasan, Rony Talukdar, Salman Hossain, Ebadot Hossain, Mehedi Hasan Miraz.