Liton in Comilla, Mushfiq in Sylhet as Mominul ignored in BPL draft

Comilla Victorians further bolstered their team strength by roping in Liton Das from the players’ draft of the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL), held Wednesday at a local hotel in the capital while former Test captain Mominul Haque was ignored by all seven teams, reports BSS.

All seven teams had already picked one local player as their allotted direct signing and roped in overseas players outside of the draft.

Surprisingly, none of the teams had picked Liton, Bangladesh’s most in-form batter in the past couple of years, as a direct signing, making him the most sought after player in the players’ draft.

The luck of the draw went Comilla’s way as they got the first pick in the first round from a lottery, and as expected, picked the wicketkeeper-batsman.

The Victorians, who had picked pacer Mustafizur Rahman as their lone direct local signing, were over the moon to have Liton in their squad and also explained why they hadn’t picked Liton before the draft.

“We picked Mustafiz (as our direct signing) as we wanted to make sure that our bowling strength is not compromised. In that sense, you can say we are lucky to have the first call and get Liton,” Victorians head coach Mohammad Salahuddin said during the draft on Wednesday.

Liton will now play in a power-packed Comilla side alongside the likes of Pakistani pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi, opener Mohammad Rizwan and many local stars.

On the other hand, Mominul, who had begun 2022 by leading Bangladesh to a historic Test win over New Zealand in Mount Maunganui, ends the year by going unpicked in the BPL draft.

Other than Liton, national team stalwarts Mushfiqur Rahim and Mahmudullah were the other two ‘A’ category players available in the draft.

Mashrafe Bin Mortaza’s team Sylhet Strikers picked Mushfiq while Twenty20 captain Shakib Al Hasan's Fortune Barisal roped in Mahmudullah.

All three ‘A’ category players cost their teams Tk 80 lakh each.

Meanwhile, pacer Mritunjoy Chowdhury was picked by Chattogram Challengers, Mohammad Mithun went to Dhaka Dominators, Mahedi Hasan will play for Rangpur Riders and Mohammad Saifuddin was named by Khulna Tigers.

The ninth edition of the BPL is scheduled to begin on 6 January next year.

Squads

Dhaka Dominators

Direct Signing: Taskin Ahmed, Chamika Karunratne, Dilshan Munaweera

Draft pick: Mohammad Mithun, Soumya Sarkar, Shoriful Islam, Arafat Sunny, Nasir Hossain, Al Amin Hossain, Shan Masud, Ahmad Shazad, Alok Kapali, Monir Hossain, Ariful Haque, Muktar Ali, Mizanur Rahman, Delwar Hossain, Usman Gani, Salman Ershad.

Chattogram Challengers

Direct Signing: Afif Hossain, Vishwa Fernando, Ashan Praiyanjan, Curtis Campher

Draft pick: Mrittunjoy Chowdhury, Shuvagata Hom, Mehedi Hasan Rana, Mehedi Maruf, Ziaur Rahman, Maxwell Patrick O'Dowd, Unmukt Chand, Taijul Islam, Abu Jayed, Forhad Reza, Tawfiq Khan.

Fortune Barishal

Direct Signing: Shakib Al Hasan, Ifthekhar Ahmed, Mohammad Wasim, Ibrahim Jadran, Karim Janat, Usman Kadir, Rakheem Cornwall, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Kusal Perera

Draft pick: Mahmudullah, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Ebadot Hossain, Anamul Haque, Kamrul Islam, Fazle Mahmud, Haider Ali, Chaturanga De Silva, Khaled Ahmed, Saif Hasan, Kazi Anik, Snjamul Islam, Salman Hossain.

Khulna Tigers

Direct Signing: Tamim Iqbal, Avishka Fernando, Wahab Riaz, Naseem Shah, Azam Khan.

Draft pick: Mohammd Saifuddin, Yasir Ali, Nasum Ahmed, Nahidul Islam, Munim Shariar, Sabbir Rahman, Dashun Sanaka, Paul Van Meekreen, Shafiqul Islam, Pritom Kumer, Habibur Rahman Sohan, Mahmudul Hasan Joy.

Sylhet Strikers

Direct Signing: Mashrafe Bin Mortaza, Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Haris, Rayan Burl, Kamindu Mendis, Thisra Perera, Dhananjaya De Silva, Colin Ackermann

Draft pick: Mushfiqur Rahim, Najmul Hossain Shanto, Rejaur Rahman Raja, Nabil Samad, Towhid Hridoy, Rubel Hossain, Tom Moors, Gulbadin Naib, Zakir Hasan, Nazmul Islam, Akbar Ali, Md. Shorifullah, Tanzim Hasan Sakib.

Comilla Victorians

Direct Signing: Mustafizur Rahman, Mohammad Rizwan, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Hasan Ali, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Nabi, Abrar Ahmed, Joshua Cobb, Brandon King

Draft pick: Liton Das, Mosaddek Hossain, Tanvir Islam, Imrul Kayes,. Ashiqur Zaman, Jaker Ali, Sean Williams, Chadwick Walton, Saikat Ali, Abu Hider, Nayeem Hasan, Mukidul Islam, Mahidul Islam Ankon.

Rangpur Riders

Direct Signing: Nurul Hasan, Shoaib Malik, Pathum Nissanka, Haris Rouf, Mohamamad Nawaz, Jefry Vandersay, Sikandar Raza

Draft pick: Mahedi Hasan, Hasan Mahmud, Mohammad Naim, Rakibul Hasan Jr, Shamim Hossain, Ripon Mondol, Azmatullah Omarzai, Aron Jones, Rony Talukder, Parvez Hossain, Robiul Haque, Alauddin Babu.