Bangladesh Premier League to begin on February 9

The first edition of the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) will kick off on February 9, 2012 with the final to be played on February 29. The 20-day tournament will feature six teams that will play each other twice each in a round-robin format over 33 matches to be held in Chittagong and Dhaka.

Teams will be allowed to field five foreign players in their XIs, as opposed to four in the IPL. Adam Gilchrist, Mathew Hayden, Kieron Pollard, Dwayne Bravo, Kamran Akmal and James Anderson are among at least 25 foreign players who have made themselves available for the tournament.

"The main thing is the Bangladesh players have to be available," Arun Lal, a consultant to Game on Sports, the tournament organisers, and also a former India opener, told ESPNcricinfo.

As in the first season of the IPL, each team will have an icon player. The Bangladesh Cricket Board announced yesterday that Tamim Iqbal will be the icon player for Chittagong, Mohammad Ashraful for Dhaka, Alok Kapali for Sylhet, Shahriar Nafees for Barisal, Mushfiqur Rahim for Rajshahi and Shakib Al Hasan for Khulna. The players will be paid 5% more than the amount received by the highest paid player of each franchise.

The franchise auction will take place on January 5, either in Dhaka or the sea-side town of Cox's Bazar. Companies wishing to bid for a franchise will submit their offers on the same day, and bids will be opened in front of all those present, with the franchises going to the highest bidder. The player auction is scheduled to take place 10 days later. Each team will have to spend a minimum of US $2 million and can spend up to a maximum of $5 million.

The BPL will be televised on a new sports channel in Bangladesh and the organisers are believed to be in discussions with Ten Sports to broadcast the tournament in India. However, India's domestic 50-over tournament begins on February 20 and therefore could restrict Indian participation. "India is a problem," Lal said. "In the first six or eight games, they [India players] could play."

The organisers are also hoping that the winner of the BPL will be given a place in the Champions League Twenty20 next year.

Game on Sports paid US$44.3 million for the rights to the BPL for six years.

Source: Cricinfo

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Two pirates killed in Sundarbans gunfight

BAGERHAT: At least two pirates were killed in a gunfight with a joint team of Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) and coastguard in Nishankhali area of the Sundarbans under Dakope upazila here on Saturday. 

The joint team also recovered 14 firearms, including six shutter guns, three riffles, 142 rounds of bullets, one wireless set and 18 mobile phones, from their possession after the two-hour gunfight.

The pirates were identified as Masum, 30, and Abdul Mannan, 38, and members of Raju Bahini, a bandit group based in the Sundarbans.

Sources said notorious Raju Bahini, Al-Amin Bahini and Gama Bahini, kidnapped 120 fishermen along with 18 fishing trawlers and looted cash, fish, fishing nets from different coastal areas from last September to October.

Moreover, at least 300 robbers of 10-strong groups are active and they often commit crime in the forest. 

Rab and coastguard members conducted a drive in Nishankhali area to rescue the abducted fishermen. Sensing the presence of the law enforcers, the pirates opened fire on the law enforcers, prompting them to retaliate.

Later, the joint team recovered two bullet-hit bodies and recovered the firearms.

However, the other members of the gangs managed to flee the scene.

Source: Daily Sun

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