The 11th edition of Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) is scheduled to begin from 27 December. Players’ draft for the tournament will take place on 14 October and before that, the local players’ list for the draft has been prepared.

According to the draft, former Bangladesh national team captain Mashrafe Bin Mortaza, who hasn’t been active in competitive cricket since April and had taken a break from the last season’s BPL campaign midway to focus on political duty ahead of the national election held in January this year, has been placed in Category B.

All-rounder Mohammad Saifuddin, who played an important role behind Fortune Barishal’s triumph last season, has been placed in Category C.
Saifuddin, who has been plagued with injuries in recent times, picked up 15 wickets for Fortune Barishal last season. He didn’t bat in many innings, but when he did, he had an impact. He had a strike rate of 185.29 in the four innings he batted.

Meanwhile Mashrafe, who was a member of the parliament - was elected for a second time in the country`s general elections and Awami League had appointed him as the party`s whip in parliament, played only five matches for Sylhet Strikers last season. He only picked up one wicket in the three innings that he bowled and his team was struggling as well and later he left the team for political duties.

BCB officials insisted that they have taken the decision to place Mashrafe in B Grade as a token of respect as they feel he cannot be placed below C Grade. “We have spoken with Mashrafe regarding his place in the player’s draft,” a BCB official told the media, while adding that they might make one or two changes in the players’ category if required.

It is understood Saifuddin has spoken with member of the selection panel regarding his demotion in the players category as he was placed in Grade B in the last edition.

Not only Saifuddin, there are bowlers like Abu Haider Rony, Ebadot Hossain, Khaled Ahmed who have been placed below Mashrafee in the players’ list. The likes of Soumya Sarkar, Imrul Kayes, Zakir Hasan Mashrafe in category B, Saifuddin-Soumya in Category Chave also been placed in Category C.

A total 188 players have been put in six different categories for the draft. 12 cricketers have been placed in both Category A and B each while Category C has 22 cricketers. Category D,E and F respectively have 28, 51 and 63 cricketers in the list.

Category A will see the maximum price cap for the players (Tk60 lacs). The rest will see a maximum price cap of Tk 40 lacs, Tk25 lacs, Tk20 lacs, Tk 15 lacs and Tk10 lacs respectively.

Category A consists of players like Shakib Al Hasan, Najmul Hossain, Tamim Iqbal, Liton Kumer Das, Mushfiqur Rahim, Mahmudullah Riyad, Taskin Ahmed, Mehidy Hasan, Shoriful Islam and Towhid Hridoy. The biggest surprise of Category A is probably Rishad Hossain.