Sports Desk:

Durbar Rajshahi picked Taskin Ahmed in the first call while Liton Das and Mahmudullah were roped in by Dhaka Capitals and Fortune Barishal respectively in the players’ draft for the 11th edition of the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) currently taking place at the Pan Pacific Sonargaon in Dhaka on Monday.

Apart from them, Bangladesh’s all-format skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto, who was also in Category A, was picked by Barishal. Leg-spinner Rishad Hossain, another Category A player, was finally picked by the same franchise in their seventh call in the draft for the upcoming tournament, scheduled to start on December 27.

However, the most surprising incident in the draft so far was Rajshahi picking top-order batsman Jishan Alam, who the franchise had earlier announced as one of their two direct signings along with Anamul Haque Bijoy.

They released Jishan right before the draft event but went on to pick the same player in their second call.

Among the other notable names, former Bangladesh captain Mashrafe bin Mortaza was roped in by Sylhet Strikers while Nahid Rana and Soumya Sarkar were picked by Rangpur.

Among the foreign players, Dhaka picked Pakistan’s Saim Ayub, Sylhet roped in Afghanistan’s Samiullah Shinwari, Barishal went for English County player James Fuller and Sri Lanka international Pathum Nissanka while Rangpur roped in Ireland’s Curtis Campher.

Earlier before the draft event, a total of 18 local cricketers were either retained or directly signed by the seven participating franchises while many of the franchises also confirmed some direct signings of overseas players.