Bangladesh Premier League

The Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) (বাংলাদেশ প্রিমিয়ার লিগ; ISO: bānlādēś primiẏār lig) is a professional Twenty20 cricket league organised by the BPL Governing Council. The BPL is one of the three professional cricket leagues in Bangladesh. It is the 16th most attended premier league in the world. In winter, each team faces the other twice in the league stage. Following the conclusion of the regular season, the top four teams advance to the playoffs, a single-elimination game, and two qualifier games culminating in the Championship game, between the winner of Qualifier 1 and Qualifier 2.

The Bangladesh Premier League was formed in 2011 by the Bangladesh Cricket Board, after the suspension of its predecessor organisation, 2009/10 National Cricket League Twenty20. The first season was held in February 2012, and the games were held across Dhaka and Chittagong. The BPL is headed by the chairman of its Governing Council.

History
Following the success of franchise Twenty20, cricket leagues such as the Indian Premier League around the world, the Bangladesh Cricket Board announced a plan to replace the National Cricket League with a franchise-based league. On 18 January 2012, the board entered a 6-year, 350-crore deal with Game on Sports Group to establish a franchise tournament. The deal gave the group exclusive management rights to the tournament. The league was founded with six franchises from the largest cities of Bangladesh. During the franchise auction, nine companies took part in the bidding process, with six winning the rights of each club.

In July 2022, after the ICC accommodated the month of January and February for the BPL, in its ICC Future Tours Programme, the BCB announced the schedule of the BPL for the next three seasons.

2012 (1st edtion)
The first edition of the league officially kicked off on 9 February 2012, with a lavish opening ceremony at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh. The initial player auction was held on 18 and 19 January 2012 and the first match in the tournament staged on 9 February 2012 at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium between Sylhet Royals and Barisal Burners. The first final game was between Dhaka Gladiators and Barisal Burners, with Dhaka Gladiators emerging as champions after winning by eight wickets. All matches in the first edition of the league were held at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium and Zohur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in the country's second-largest city Chattogram.

2013 (2nd edition)
Rangpur Riders were added as a seventh team for the second season. Dhaka Gladiators again emerged as champions beating Chittagong Kings in the final by 43 runs. Once again Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Dhaka hosted the final. For most of the matches, the MA Aziz Stadium, replaced the Zohur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chattogram due to higher capacity and Sheikh Abu Naser Stadium in Khulna (third-largest city) was added as the third venue.

Following accusations of match-fixing during the 2012–13 season, the owners of all six original franchises were suspended in 2013 due to constant violations of the league regulations and constant delays in players' salary handover. The owners of Dhaka Gladiators were handed a lifetime suspension by the governing committee. A number of players and administrators were handed bans for match-fixing, including the former captain of Bangladesh, Mohammad Ashraful.

2015 (3rd edition)
Following the match-fixing scandal and political issues of the country the league was not played in the year 2014. It returned in 2015 with six new franchises and it was held in the winter season unlike spring previously. Comilla Victorians won the competition, beating Barisal Bulls by three wickets. Leading up to the 2016–17 edition of the league, the Sylhet Super Stars, were suspended following breaches of disciplinary regulations, and two new franchises, Khulna Titans and Rajshahi Kings, were introduced, bringing the number of teams in the competition back to seven

2016 (4th edition)
The 2016 BPL draft was held on 30 September. Prior to the draft, the seven clubs signed 38 foreign players to contracts and each existing franchise was able to retain two home-grown players from the 2015 season. A total 301 players participated in the draft, including 133 local and 168 foreign players. 85 players were selected in the draft. Dhaka Dynamites, captained by Shakib Al Hasan, topped the group stage table, whereas Rajshahi Kings, led by Darren Sammy, stood at the fourth position. Dynamites beat Khulna Titans in the Qualifier 1 and went to final. Rajshahi Kings defeated Chittagong Vikings and Khulna Titans respectively in Eliminator and Qualifier.

In Final after winning the toss, Kings' captain D. Sammy elected to field first. The Dynamites scored 159 runs in 20 overs with a loss of 9 wickets. They made 23 runs in the opening partnership. Evin Lewis top scored for the Dynamites with 45 runs. Kings' bowler Farhad Reza took 3 wickets for 28 runs. The Kings failed to build a good opening partnership. After scoring 60, they started losing wickets and couldn't hold on. The Dynamites won the match and their 1st title by a wide margin of 56 runs. Kumar Sangakkara was named the man of the match. This is the 3rd title for a Dhaka franchise in BPL.

Khulna Titans' skipper Mahmudullah was made the player of the tournament since he scored the second most runs (384) and defended less than 7 runs in the last over of the 2nd innings more than one instance.

2017 (5th edition)
It was the fifth season of the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL). The competition was organised by the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) and features seven teams from seven different cities. The season began on 4 November, and ended on 12 December 2017, with the defending champion, Dhaka Dynamites played against Sylhet Sixers in the first game at Sylhet International Cricket Stadium.

Barisal Bulls were excluded from the tournament, after failing financial terms and conditions.

Group stage matches was played in three blocks. The first and third blocks took place in Dhaka with the middle block of 10 matches taking place in Chittagong. Two matches was played on each day of the group stage part of the tournament. The first four matches of the tournament were washed out after heavy rain and the two matches scheduled to take place on 6 November were postponed. The tournament was restarted on 8 November with the first six fixtures to be rescheduled at a later date. The matches from the opening day of fixtures was replayed with the points table reset.

In Finale, Rangpur Riders defeated Dhaka Dynamites to win their first title. In the final match Chris Gayle was awarded the man of the match award and also won player of the series award. He was the leading run scorer in the tournament with 2 banger centuries (146* of 69 and 126 of 51 ) and a total tally of 485 runs. Shakib Al Hasan was the leading wicket taker with 22 wickets.
 * Dhaka Dynamites won the toss and elected to field.
 * Chris Gayle (Rangpur Riders) has hit the most sixes by a player in a T20 match (18 sixes).
 * He has also scored the highest score by a player in a T20 final as well as the highest in BPL history (146*).
 * The partnership between Chris Gayle and Brendon McCullum is the highest ever in BPL (201* for the 2nd wicket).
 * As a result of this match, Rangpur Riders won the championship.

2019 (6th edition)
Final: Comilla Victorians vs Dhaka Dynamites

Comilla Victorians Champions

Originally, the season was scheduled to start on 1 October 2018 and end on 16 November 2018. However, in May 2018, it was reported that the tournament might be moved to January 2019, because of security concerns around the Bangladeshi general election, which took place in December 2018. In July 2018, it was confirmed that the tournament would start in January 2019. For this edition of the tournament, the Decision Review System (DRS) were used for the first time.

In the final match, Comilla Victorians defeated Dhaka Dynamites by 17 runs to win their second title. In the final match, Tamim Iqbal was awarded the man of the match award, after scoring 141 not out. Rilee Rossouw was the leading run scorer in the tournament with 558 runs. Shakib Al Hasan was the leading wicket taker with 22 wickets and also won the player of the tournament award.

2019-20 (7th edition)
Final: Rajshahi Royals vs Khulna Tigers

Rajshahi Royals Champions Read more at: https://www.mykhel.com/cricket/bangladesh-premier-league-winners-list/ In September 2019, BCB President Nazmul Hasan Papon informed the media about certain changes in rules and regulations for the 2019–20 season and eliminating all franchises, BCB took over the charge and decided to run this tournament by the board itself and named the tournament as Bangabandhu BPL T20 2019-20 in order to pay homage to Sheikh Mujibur Rahman on his birth centenary.

Rajshahi Royals defeated Khulna Tigers by 21 runs in the final match. Royals skipper Andre Russell was elected as both Man of the match for the final and Player of the Tournament for his all-round performances and for leading his side to their maiden BPL title.

2022 (8th edition)
Final:Comilla Victorians vs Barishal

Comilla Victorians Champions

The 2021–22 season was initially scheduled to start in March 2021. However, the tournament was postponed and rescheduled to be held from 21 January to 18 February 2022. In December 2021, all six teams were announced, with Rangpur Rangers and the defending champion Rajshahi Royals being excluded, a franchise from Barisal was included and Comilla Victorians also returned after a year's break. Initially, Rupa Steel & Marn Group owned the Dhaka franchise, but a day before the players' draft their ownership was terminated due to non compliance of rules. However, the Minister Group took ownership of the franchise after the players' draft. Due to the unavailability of technical teams the DRS system could not be used in this season. Initially, BCB decided to allow spectators this year, however, due to the rise of Omicron variants, the board backed out from its decision and decided to play behind closed doors.

The two points table topper teams Fortune Barishal and Comilla Victorians reached the final. In the final, Comilla Victorians defended 151 runs to win their third title in a thrilling 1-run victory. Sunil Narine was the Player of the Final for his all-round performances. Shakib Al Hasan, captain of the runners-up team, Fortune Barishal, received the Player of the Tournament award for his all-round performance, having scored 284 runs in 11 innings and picked up 16 wickets.

2023 (9th edition)
Final: Comilla Victorians vs Sylhet Strikers

Comilla Victorians Champions

Read more at: https://www.mykhel.com/cricket/bangladesh-premier-league-winners-list/

The ninth season was scheduled to be held from 6 January to 16 February in 2023. BCB also decided to increase the number of teams to 7 and to sell the franchise rights for 3 years from this season.

BCB announced the list of franchise owners in September 2022, with five of the previous six franchises retaining ownership and the return of Rangpur Riders after two seasons. On 24 December 2022, BCB announced the fixtures for this season with two matches to be played per day in the group stage and having reserve days for all of the knockout matches.

In the final, Comilla Victorians defeated Sylhet Strikers by 7 wickets to win their second successive and overall fourth title.

2024 (10th edition)
Final: Comilla Victorians vs Fortune Barishal

(It was their third meeting in the BPL final . They met previously in 2015 and 2022 BPL finales and in both games Comilla Victorians won the match in the last ball).

Winner : Fortune Barishal (1st Title)

It was one of the best seasons BPL has ever produced. With 3 Venues and 7 Teams this season produced so much competition and banger. Fortune Barishal had the strongest batting side of the tournament withstand a bunch of national Team Players. On the other side "Team of Bashundhara Group" Rangpur Riders with Sakib Al Hasan was also a Great Team. So the competition was thrilling between these 2 teams and at last Barishal Team came out victorious after knocking two table toppers.

This BPL had a great crowd engagement and amazing fireworks and set up a record of highest revenue of any BPL season.
 * Most Runs : Tamim Iqbal; 492 runs in 15 innings
 * Most Wicket : Shoriful Islam; 22 wickets in 12 match (Hat trick in Opening Match )
 * Best Allrounder Performance : Shakib Al Hasan; 255 runs and 17 wickets.

2025 (11th edition)
To be coming soon...

League organisation
At a corporate level, the Bangladesh Premier League considers itself an association made up of and financed by its member teams. All income generated through television rights, licensing agreements, sponsorship, ticket sales and other means is earned and shared between the Bangladesh Cricket Board and the participating franchises. The league is controlled by a Governing Council (GC). As the parent organisation, the Bangladesh Cricket Board appoints the GC's members.

As of the 2018–19 season, the league consists of seven franchises. Each team plays every other team twice in the round-robin stage of the competition with the teams with the top 4 advancing to a series of play-off matches. These lead to a championship match in which the league champion is decided.

Draft system
The BPL operates a draft system to assign players to teams. Franchises can choose new players during an annual draft. Teams can also choose to retain players from one year to the next and players can also be signed outside of the draft and traded between organisations. Since 2015, Imago Sports Management has been conducting the players draft event also is the official players management partner of Bangladesh Cricket Board for Bangladesh Premier League

Finals
All finals in the competition have been played at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium at Mirpur.

Overall team performances
Records include all matches played under the name of a franchise, even where the franchise has been suspended and re-created as a new organisation. Note:
 * Tie&W and Tie&L indicate matches tied and then won or lost by "Super Over"
 * The win percentage excludes no results.

Overall team standings

 * C: champions
 * RU: runner-up
 * SF or PO: team qualified for the semi-final or play-off stage of the competition
 * DNP: Did not participate

Sponsorship
For the first season of the tournament, Bangladeshi conglomerate Destiny Group was the main sponsor of the tournament, negotiating a one-year sponsorship package for 75 million taka (US$1.0 million). Prime Bank Limited was awarded the sponsorship deal for the second season for 100 million taka (US$1.5 million). BRB Cables Limited held the sponsorship rights for third season in 2015 with 150 million taka (US$2.0 million). Abul Khair Steel (AKS), a sister concern group of Abul Khair Industries Limited became the title sponsor of the fourth and fifth editions.

Broadcasters
As of 2024 the competition is broadcast in a number of countries.
 * Source: BCB