The ninth season of the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) will begin in the first week of January 2023. In the meantime, the player draft has been completed on November 23. Before the draft, however, the franchises started to organize the team. The teams already recruited cricketers through direct signing before the draft. Many local and foreign cricketers have got teams through direct signup. The rest of the listed players were left out for the draft. Let’s see the detailed BPL draft 2023 and know the players' names according to their teams.
BPL 2023: Players Category and Salaries
Table: Salary range of BPL players under different categories
| Player Category | Base Salary (Taka) |
| A | 80 lakh |
| B | 50 lakh |
| C | 30 lakh |
| D | 20 lakh |
| E | 15 lakh |
| F | 10 lakh |
| G | 5 lakh |
This year player has been categorized into seven categories from ‘A’ to ‘G’. ‘A’ category players will get 80 lakh taka this season. The BPL 2023 salary for ‘B’ category players is 50 lakh taka. Remuneration in the 'C', 'D', 'E', 'F' and 'G' categories is 30, 20, 15, 10 and 5 lakhs respectively.
Read More: BPL: From “world’s second-best” to “best domestic” league
BPL 2023 Draft: Teams and Signed Player List
The BPL players' draft was held on Wednesday, November 23 in an elite hotel in Dhaka. There are seven franchises in 2023 BPL. The seven teams are Dhaka Dominators, Chattogram Challengers, Comilla Victorians, Fortune Barishal, Khulna Tigers, Sylhet Strikers, and Rangpur Riders. More than 300 players were auctioned from home and abroad, while 137 players were sold.
Each team bought more than 15-22 players. While most of the players were sold during the draft some top ranked players such as Shakib Al Hasan, Mashrafe Mortaza, Tamim Iqbal, Mustafizur Rahman, and more were signed directly.
However, some top performers from previous tournaments did not get any team. Among them Ashraful and Mominul Islam were notable. Young opening batter Tanjid Hasan Tamim was also on this list.
Dhaka Dominators
Table: Player list of Dhaka Dominators in BPL 2023
| Players from Direct Contract | Taskin Ahmed, Chamika Karunaratne (Sri Lanka), Dilshan Munaweera (Sri Lanka) |
| Bangladeshi Players from Draft | Mohammad Mithun, Soumya Sarkar, Shoriful Islam, Arafat Sunny, Nasir Hossain, Al Amin Hossain, Shan Masood, Ahmad Shahzad, Alok Kapali, Monir Hossain Khan, Ariful Haque, Salman Irshad, Muktar Ali, Mizanur Rahman, Delwar Hossain |
| Foreign Players from Draft | Shan Masood, Ahmed Shehzad (Pakistan), Usman Ghani (Afghanistan), Salman Ershad. |
Dhaka Dominators bought a total of 22 players and three of them were foreign players. Among these players Taskin, Chamika Karunaratne and Dilshan Munaweera were signed directly due to their recent performance Asia Cup and World Cup.
Read More: 7 local cricketers get direct contracts in 2023 BPL
Chattogram Challengers
Table: Player list of Chattogram Challengers in BPL 2023
| Players from Direct Contract | Afif Hussain, Biswa Fernando (Sri Lanka), Ashan Priyanjan (Sri Lanka), Curtis Camper (Ireland). |
| Bangladeshi Players from Draft | Mritunjoy Chowdhury, Shubhagat Hom Chowdhury, Mehdi Hasan Rana, Irfan Sukkur, Mehdi Maruf, Ziaur Rahman, Taijul Islam, Abu Zayed Rahi, Farhad Reza, Taufiq Khan Tushar |
| Foreign Players from Draft | Max O’Dowd (Netherlands), Open Moon (India/USA) |
Chattogram Challengers has arranged their team with 16 players and they kept five foreign players in tehir squad. Among all these players Afif Hussian is a star player for the team and it is expected that he will give his best for the team.
Comilla Victorians
Table: Player list of Comilla Victorians in 2023
| Players from Direct Contract | Mostafizur Rahman, Mohammad Rizwan (Pakistan), Shaheen Afridi (Pakistan), Hasan Ali (Pakistan), Khushdil Shah (Pakistan), Mohammad Nabi (Afghanistan), Abrar Ahmed (Pakistan). |
| Bangladeshi Players from Draft | Liton Kumar Das, Mosaddek Hossain Saikat, Tanveer Islam, Imrul Kayes, Ashikuzzaman, Zaker Ali Anik, Saikat Ali, Abu Hyder Roni, Naeem Hasan, Mukidul Islam impressed. |
| Foreign Players from Draft | Shaun Williams (Zimbabwe), Chadwick Walton (West Indies). |
3 times BPL winner Comilla Victorians seem to spend a huge amount of money this season as they have bought most star players including Mohammad Rizwan, Shaheen Afridi, Mohammad Nabi, and Mostafizur Rahman. They have 19 players on their team with 7 foreign players.
Read More: BPL 2023: Mahmudullah in Barishal, Mushfiqur in Sylhet
Fortune Barishal
Table: Player list of Fortune Barishal in BPL 2023
| Players from Direct Contract | Shakib Al Hasan, Iftekhar Ahmed (Pakistan), Mohammad Wasim Jr (Pakistan), Ibrahim Zadran (Afghanistan), Karim Janat (Afghanistan), Omar Qadir (Pakistan), Rahkeem Cornwell (West Indies), Kesrick Williams (West Indies ), Rahmanullah Gurbaz (Afghanistan). |
| Bangladeshi Players from Draft | Mahmudullah Riyad, Mehdi Hasan Miraj, Ibadat Hossain, Enamul Haque Vijay, Kamrul Islam Rabi, Fazle Mahmud Rabi, Syed Khaled Ahmed, Saif Hasan, Kazi Anik, Sanjamul Islam, Salman Hossain. |
| Foreign Players from Draft | Haider Ali (Pakistan), Chaturanga de Silva (Sri Lanka). |
Fortune Barishal has yet to win a BPL cup, but it seems in 2023 they have a strong wish to win it. From Shakib Al Hasan to Mahmudullah Riyad, they have made a team with a mix of experienced and young players consisting of 22 cricketers. Among them, 10 players are from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and West Indies.
Khulna Tigers
Table: Player list of Khulna Tigers in BPL 2023
| Players from Direct Contract | Tamim Iqbal, Abiska Fernando (Sri Lanka), Wahab Riaz (Pakistan), Naseem Shah (Pakistan), Azam Khan (Pakistan). |
| Bangladeshi Players from Draft | Mohammad Saifuddin, Yasir Ali Chowdhury, Nasum Ahmed, Nahidul Islam, Munim Shahriar, Sabbir Rahman, Shafiqul Islam, Pritam Kumar, Habibur Rahman Sohan, Mahmudul Hasan Joy. |
| Foreign Players from Draft | Dasun Shanaka (Sri Lanka), Paul Mikrin (Sri Lanka). |
Registered in 2012, previously known as Khulna Titans, the franchise is yet to win a tournament. This year they have created a team with 11 Bangladeshi players and 6 foreign players. Tamim Iqbal is the captain of the Khulna Tigers.
Read More: BPL 2023: What Mashrafe, Perara and Amir can bring to Sylhet Strikers
Sylhet Strikers
Table: Player list of Sylhet Strikers in BPL 2023
| Players from Direct Contract | Mashrafe bin Mortaza, Mohammad Amir (Pakistan), Mohammad Haris (Pakistan), Ryan Burl (Zimbabwe), Kamindu Mendis (Sri Lanka), Dhananjaya de Silva (Sri Lanka), Thisara Perera (Sri Lanka). |
| Bangladeshi Players from Draft | Mushfiqur Rahim, Nazmul Hossain Shanto, Rezaur Rahman Raja, Nabeel Samad, Tauhid Hriday, Rubel Hossain, Zakir Hasan, Nazmul Islam Apu, Akbar Ali, Mohammad Sharifullah, Tanjim Hasan Shakib. |
| Foreign Players from Draft | Tom Moores, Gulbdin Naib |
Founded in 2012, this franchise has changed its name 7 times in the last 10 years and will be known as Sylhet Strikers in the 2023 to 2025 season. They made 20 man squad keeping Mashrafe bin Mortaza as the captain. However, they have spent most of their money on foreign players.
Rangpur Riders
Table: Player list of Rangpur Riders in BPL 2023
| Players from Direct Contract | Nurul Hasan Sohan, Shoaib Malik (Pakistan), Pathum Nishanka (Sri Lanka), Haris Rauf (Pakistan), Mohammad Nawaz (Pakistan), Jeffrey Vandersee (Sri Lanka), Sikandar Raja (Zimbabwe). |
| Bangladeshi Players from Draft | Sheikh Mehdi Hasan, Hasan Mahmud, Naeem Sheikh, Rakibul Hasan, Shamim Patwari, Ripon Mondal, Roni Talukder, Parvez Hussain Imon, Rabiul Haque, Alauddin Babu. |
| Foreign Players from Draft | Azmatullah Omurzai (Afghanistan), Aaron Jones (USA). |
Won the 5th edition of BPL by defeating Dhaka Dynamites in the final, Rangpur Raiders emphasized spending for the top-level foreign player and middle-range Bangladeshi players. They have bought a total of 19 players including 7 foreign players.
Read More: BPL 2023: Syhet Strikers ropes in Mashrafe, Amir, Perera
Final Words
According to BPL 2023 draft, the seven teams have spent approximately 22 crore taka on Bangladeshi and foreign players. Among them, Barishal has spent more money. If everything goes well, the ninth season of BPL will start on January 5, 2023, and will end on February 16. The tenth season of BPL will start on January 6 next year and will continue till February 17. BPL 2025 will be from January 1 to February 11.