BPL franchises submit retainees' list for 2017

With the deadline for submitting retained players’ list of the teams participating in the Bangladesh Premier League 2017 (BPL) ending on Thursday, the players that will still be associated with their respective franchises of last year is now certain.

However, Sylhet Surma Sixers, the team that has come in in place of the suspended Barisal Bulls, and will be featuring for the very first time in the history of BPL, have not submitted this list as this is their first year in the tournament. They will get the chance to pick up three local cricketers from the players draft so that every team participates in the players draft with the same balance.

Shakib to stay at Dhaka, Mushfiqur to play for Rajshahi

According to sources, Dhaka Dynamites, the defending champions have retained three local cricketers- Mosaddek Hossain, Mohammad Shahid and Mehedi Maruf alongside retaining Shakib Al Hasan as their icon. While Rajshahi Kings, the runners-up of BPL T20 2016 edition, named Mushfiqur Rahim as their icon and have retained Mominul Haque, Mehedi Hasan, and Farhad Reza.

Rangpur Riders have roped in Mashrafe Mortaza as their icon of BPL season-5 and have decided to retain Mohammad Mithun, Rubel Hossain, and Sohag Gazi. Chittagong Vikings, on the other hand, have decided to retain Taskin Ahmed, Anamul Haque, and Subashish Roy as their part of upcoming campaign with the new signing of Soumya Sarkar as their icon.

It has been learnt, Khulna Titans have retained Shafiul Islam, Mosharraf Hossain, and Ariful Haque alongside the retention of Mahmudullah Riyad as their icon cricketer, as reported by bdcrictime. Apart from this, Comilla Victorians have signed Tamim Iqbal as their icon and retained Imrul Kayes, Liton Das and Mohammad Saifuddin from their previous season for the upcoming edition.

Draft to be held in Dhaka

The tournament will begin on November 3 and the players draft for BPL 2017 will be held on September 16 in Dhaka. Each franchise of BPL will be allowed to pick a maximum number of 13 local cricketers from the players’ draft and will have the embargo of picking seven local cricketers from the draft.