Comilla rope in Englishman Jos Buttler for BPL-5

Comilla Victorians have hired the services of English wicket-keeper batsman Jos Buttler for the forthcoming season of the Bangladesh Premier League. The tournament’s fifth edition is scheduled to kick off on November 2 with eight teams vying for the coveted title. This will be the first time Buttler will feature in the BPL.

Buttler available for full season

The franchise confirmed the news of Buttler’s signing and announced that the 26-year old will be available for the entire length of the tournament. Buttler has been a remarkable batsman in the shorter format of the game and could play a huge role in the Victorians quest of getting their hands on the silverware. They have already got one title under their belt which they won in 2015 and will be aiming for their second one.

Buttler has already featured in the IPL and BBL, two most famous T20 leagues around the world. In 185 games, the right hander has 3712 runs at 28.77 and a strike rate of 147.53. He has made 21 fifties so far with a best score of 80*. It will be interesting to see if Comilla will be used Buttler as an opener, which is where he batted for the Mumbai Indians in the last season.

Buttler joins an extended list of foreign players

Buttler’s inclusion has extended the list of foreign players in Comilla’s ranks to 11. They have already signed Shoaib Malik, Hasan Ali, Fakhar Zaman, Imran Khan jr, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Colin Munro, Angelo Mathews and Darren Bravo. The franchise is prepared to make the best use of the new five-player rule, where 5 foreigners are allowed to field in the playing XI.

Apart from the foreign recruits, Comilla has a decent bunch of local cricketers in Imrul Kayes, Liton Das, Mohammad Saifuddin and Tamim Iqbal. Comilla finished at the second last spot in last year’s competition and will be looking to improve upon their performance this time around.