Rajshahi Kings taking Five-player rule ‘sportingly’

Mushfiqur Rahim will play for Rajshahi Kings in BPL-5. (Photo Source: Twitter)

Rajshahi Kings, who were one of the three teams who voted for the four-player rule, has said to be taking the five-player rule sportingly. The Bangladesh Premier League’s governing body has allowed teams to field 5 foreign players for the fifth edition of the tournament which kicks off from November 2. The five-player rule will return in the BPL after 2013.

Mushfiqur Rahim roped in as ‘icon’ player for the Kings

Rajshahi Kings finished fourth in the points table and did a splendid job of making it to the finals. On the big night, though, the Kings fell short by 56 runs against Dhaka Dynamites. For the upcoming season, Rajshahi has roped in Mushfiqur Rahim as their icon player. In the last season, the Bangladesh wicket-keeper turned up for Barisal Bulls, who finished at the bottom of the tables, registering just four wins in 12 games.

Hafizur Rahman Khan, the chairman of Rajshahi Kings, was unpurtubed by the five-player rule, though they had voted against it. “We voted for four foreign players [in a playing XI],” Rahman said. “Three franchises voted for four players while five franchise voted for five players in the line-up. So the majority decision prevailed. We took it sportingly. We voted so that there was more participation of local players.”

Rahim says coin has two sides

Mushfiqur Rahim also wasn’t too concerned about the ruling but mentioned that the new rule has its pros and cons. According to Bangladesh Test captain, the competition amongst the local players will increase as they will now fight for 6 spots rather than 7 in previous seasons.

“It can be both positive and negative,” Mushfiqur said. “If five players play then one spot for local players will be reduced, but on the other hand the competition for local players will be increased.

“I think this kind of competition will help the local players because such practice of facing competition will help them in international level as well. High quality foreign players participate in BPL. It will help local players regarding sharing dressing rooms with such quality players,” he said.

The ruling is definitely going to restrict the participation of the local players, which was the essence of the foundation of this league. Some franchises might not have the quality in their foreign contingent which will subsequently prompt them to include more locak players in the XI. The BPL governing body, to counter this, has placed a ruling of having at least 3 foreign players in an XI.

The BPL will be bigger and better this time around as 8 teams will participate in the tournament this year. The governing body has added Mustafizur Rahman as the 8th icon player for the upcoming season.