'Just a lot of luck'
"God has been very merciful." These were the first words that Rangpur Riders owner Mustafa Rafiqul Islam uttered after coming out of players' auction programme.
A man of few words, Mustafa's statements to the media might have been short and concise. However, his expressions throughout the auction and in the post-auction press conference easily conveyed just how delighted he was with his team.
And why shouldn't he be? Not only did he get the opportunity to buy the first player of the auction, but he also got the chance to pick the first icon player of the competition; and he surely utilised his luck.
His first buy was Soumya Sarkar, arguably the most sought-after Bangladeshi batsman this year. And amongst the icon players, he picked the most obvious choice, roping in Shakib Al Hasan.
With the BPL auctions following the player-by-choice method, luck was always going to play a factor in the formation of teams.
The players were divided into groups and each of those groups were assigned a fixed value. The owners of the franchises had to take part in a number of lotteries in order to fix the buying sequence. So after every two rounds, the owners had to collect chits which had numbers ranging from one to six. The franchisee that collected the number one would make the first call and so on.
Rangpur's Mustafa receved the number '1' on four occasions, two of which were during the first two rounds of bidding.
While the Sylhet Superstars also drew four 1s, they did so towards the end of the auction and by then a majority of the popular players were already bought.
"I am not just satisfied, but I am very excited with my team. We wanted Shakib and we got him. That's just a lot of luck," smiled Mustafa.
DHAKA DYNAMITES
Icon Player:
Nasir Hossain (All-rounder)
Local Players:
1. Mustafizur Rahman (Pace bowler)
2. Mosharraf Hossain (Left-arm spinner)
3. Mosaddek Hossain (Batsman)
4. Shamsur Rahman (Batsman)
5. Saikat Ali (Batsman)
6. Forhad Reza (All-rounder)
7. Nabil Samad (Left-arm spinner)
8. Abul Hasan (All-rounder)
9. Irfan Sukkur (Batsman)
Foreign Players:
1. Kumar Sangakkara (Batsman, SL)
2. Ryan Ten Doeschate
(All-rounder Netherlands)
3. Mohammad Irfan (Bowler, Pakistan)
4. Yasir Shah (Leg-spinner, Pakistan)
5. Nasir Jamshed (Batsman, Pakistan)
6. Sohail Khan
(Pace bowler, Pakistan)
7. David Mallan (Batsman, England)
8. Shahzaib Hasan
(Batsman, Pakistan)
CHITTAGONG VIKINGS
Icon Player:
Tamim Iqbal (Batsman)
Local players:
1. Anamul Haque (Batsman)
2. Taskin Ahmed (Pace bowler)
3. Ziaur Rahman (All-rounder)
4. Elias Sunny (Left-arm spinner)
5. Naeem Islam (Batsman)
6. Enamul Haque Jr (Left-arm spinner)
7. Yasir Ali Chowdhury (Batsman)
8. Shafiul Islam (Pace bowler)
9. Asif Ahmed (Batsman)
10. Nafees Iqbal (Batsman)
Foreign players:
1. Robin Peterson (Left-arm spinner, SA)
2. Saeed Ajmal (Off-spinner, Pakistan)
3. Jeevan Mendis (Leg-spinner, SL)
4. Umar Akmal (Batsman, Pakistan)
5. Kamran Akmal
(Batsman, Pakistan)
6. Mohammad Aamir
(Pace bowler, Pakistan)
7. Chamara Kapugedera (Batsman, SL)
8. Elton Chigumbura
(All-rounder, Zim)
SYLHET SUPERSTARS
Icon Player:
Mushfiqur Rahim (Batsman)
Local Players:
1. Rubel Hossain (Pace bowler)
2. Mominul Haque (Batsman)
3. Abdur Razzak (Left-arm spinner)
4. Nurul Hasan (Batsman)
5. Mohammad Shahid (Pace bowler)
6. Nazmul Hossain Apu
(Left-arm spinner )
7. Junaid Siddique (Batsman)
8. Nazmul Hossain Milon ( Batsman)
9. Abu Sayem Chowdhury
(Batsman)
Foreign Player:
1. Sohail Tanvir ( Bowler, Pakistan)
2. Joshua Cobb (Batsman, England)
3. Chris Jordan
(Pace bowler, England)
4. Shahid Afridi
(All-rounder, Pakistan)
5. Ravi Bopara (Batsman, England)
6. Brad Hodge (All-rounder, Australia)
7. Ajanta Mendis
(Spinner, Sri Lanka)
BARISAL BULLS
Icon Player:
Mahmudullah (All-rounder)
Local Players:
1. Sabbir Rahman (Batsman)
2. Al-Amin Hossain (Pace bowler)
3. Shohag Gazi (Off-spinner)
4. Taijul Islam (Left-arm spinner)
5. Shahriar Nafees (Batsman)
6. Mehedi Maruf (Batsman)
7. Nadif Chowdhury (Batsman)
8. Rony Talukdar (Batsman)
9. Mohammad Sharifullah (Off-spinner)
10. Sajedul Islam (Pace bowler)
Foreign Players:
1. Imad Wasim
(All-rounder, Pakistan)
2. Mohammad Sami
(Pace bowler, Pakistan)
3. Seekkuge Prasanna (Spinner, SL)
4. Chris Gayle (Batsman, West Indies)
5. Brendon Taylor
(Batsman, Zimbabwe)
6. Kevon Cooper
(All-rounder, West Indies)
7. Evin Lewis (Batsman, West Indies)
COMILLA VICTORIANS
Icon Player:
Mashrafe Bin Mortaza (Bowler )
Local Players:
1. Liton Das (Batsman)
2. Imrul Kayes (Batsman)
3. Shuvagata Hom (All-rounder)
4. Sanjamul Islam (Left-arm spinner)
5. Kamrul Hasan Rabbi (Pace bowler)
6. Ariful Haque (Batsman)
7. Mahmudul Hasan Limon
(All-rounder)
8. Naeem Islam Jr (Left-arm spinner)
9. Abu Haider Ronny (Pace bowler)
10. Dhiman Ghosh (Batsman)
Foreign Players:
1. Nuwan Kulasekara (Pace Bowler, SL)
2. Andre Russel (All-rounder, WI)
3. Lahiru Thirimanne (Batsman, SL)
4. Darren Stevens
(All-rounder, England)
5. Sunil Narine (Off-spinner, WI)
6. Marlon Samuels (Batsman, WI)
7. Ahmed Shehzad (Batsman, Pakistan)
8. Shoaib Malik (All-rounder, Pakistan)
9. Krishmar Santokie (Pace bowler, WI)
RANGPUR RIDERS
Icon Player:
Shakib Al Hasan
(All-rounder)
Local Players:
1. Soumya Sarkar (Batsman)
2. Arafat Sunny (Left-arm spinner)
3. Mithun Ali (Batsman)
4. Muktar Ali (All-rounder)
5. Saqlain Sajib (Left-arm spinner)
6. Jahurul Islam (Batsman)
7. Abu Jayed Chowdhury
(Pace bowler)
8. Murad Khan (Left-arm pacer)
9. Russel Al Mamun (All-rounder)
Foreign Players:
1. Lendl Simmons
(Batsman, West Indies)
2. Darren Sammy (All-rounder, WI)
3. Thisara Perera (All-rounder, SL)
4. Sachitra Senayanake
(Off-spinner, Sri Lanka)
5. Wahab Riaz (Pace bowler, Pak)
6. Mohammad Nabi
(All-rounder, Afghanistan)