The Bangladesh Premier League 2015, also known as BPL Season 3 or BRB Cables BPL 2015 (for sponsorship reasons), was the third season of the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL), a twenty20 cricket league established by the Bangladesh Cricket Board in 2012. The tournament featured six teams during the third season. The season began on Friday, 20 November 2015, with a lavish opening ceremony held at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Dhaka, and the annual kickoff game was held between Chittagong Vikings and Rangpur Riders, which resulted in the Rangpur winning by two wickets in a last-ball finish.
The championship game was held on 15 December 2015, in which Comilla Victorians won the championship by defeating Barisal Bulls by three wickets. Alok Kapali from Comilla Victorians was awarded player of the match in the final for his match winning 39 from 28 balls. Ashar Zaidi was awarded the player of the tournament for his all-round performance of 215 runs and 17 wickets throughout the tournament. Ashar Zaidi of Comilla Victorians was also named Most valuable player (MVP), while Abu Hider was the find of the tournament.
Players' draft
The draft was held on 22 October 2015 in Dhaka. Six franchises participated in the draft method. Players from Category A-D were picked in the draft by six teams. The icon players and platinum category players were excluded from the draft process. Chris Gayle was picked up by Barisal Bulls for 1.65 crores (US$210,000). Total 319 players took part in the draft process, and 82 players were drafted. The six icon players were selected through lottery process.
Opening ceremony The third season of the tournament was officially launched at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Mirpur on 20 November 2015. During the opening ceremony, All six teams, along with their owners and captains were introduced. The opening ceremony featured live performances from Chirkutt Band, Ayub Bachchu, Momtaz Begum, KK, Jacqueline Fernandez, and Hrithik Roshan. The total cost of the opening ceremony was reported to be 3.5 crores.
Venues A total of 34 matches including the championship game was held in two venues. The first and third leg of the tournament was played at Dhaka while the second leg was held at the port city Chittagong. Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium hosted 26 matches while Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium hosted the eight group stage matches.
Chittagong Dhaka Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium Capacity: 22,000 Capacity: 25,000
Teams and standings
The top four teams qualified for the playoffs advanced to the Qualifier advanced to the Eliminator
Squads Barisal BullsChittagong VikingsComilla VictoriansDhaka DynamitesRangpur RidersSylhet Super Stars Mahmudullah Riyad (c) Brendan Taylor (vc) Chris Gayle Sabbir Rahman Shahriar Nafees Rony Talukdar Evin Lewis Mehedi Maruf Nadif Chowdhury Nikhil Dutta Suhrawadi Shuvo Imad Wasim Seekkuge Prasanna Mohammad Sharifullah Mohammad Sami Kevon Cooper Sohag Gazi Taijul Islam Al-Amin Hossain Sajedul Islam Rayad Emrit Tamim Iqbal (c) Tillakaratne Dilshan (vc) Nafees Iqbal Asif Hasan Anamul Haque Umar Akmal Kamran Akmal Naeem Islam Yasir Ali Asif Ahmed Ziaur Rahman Elton Chigumbura Shafiul Islam Enamul Haque Jr Saeed Ajmal Elias Sunny Jeevan Mendis Mohammad Amir Taskin Ahmed Robiul Islam Chamara Kapugedera Bilawal Bhatti Mashrafe Mortaza (c) Shoaib Malik (vc) Abu Hider Ahmed Shehzad Darren Stevens Imrul Kayes Liton Das Dhiman Ghosh Shuvagata Hom Marlon Samuels Alok Kapali Mahmudul Hasan Naeem Islam Jr Ariful Haque Nuwan Kulasekara Kamrul Islam Rabbi Sunzamul Islam Sunil Narine Krishmar Santokie Ashar Zaidi Andre Russell Kumar Sangakkara (c) Nasir Hossain (vc) Shadman Islam Nasir Jamshed Yasir Shah Shamsur Rahman Irfan Sukkur Lahiru Thirimanne Abul Hasan Farhad Reza Mosaddek Hossain Mohammad Irfan Nabil Samad Shykat Ali Mosharraf Hossain Mustafizur Rahman Ryan ten Doeschate Malcolm Waller Shadman Islam Shakib Al Hasan (c) Misbah-ul-Haq (vc) Lendl Simmons Soumya Sarkar Jahurul Islam Abdullah Al Mamun Mithun Ali Darren Sammy Thisara Perera Mohammad Nabi Murad Khan Sachithra Senanayake Wahab Riaz Arafat Sunny Saqlain Sajib Mukhtar Ali Abu Jayed Al-Amin Shahid Afridi (c) Mushfiqur Rahim (vc) Dilshan Munaweera Brad Hodge Joshua Cobb Junaid Siddique Nurul Hasan Ravi Bopara Mominul Haque Chris Jordan Sohail Tanvir Nazmul Hossain Milon Rubel Hossain Abdur Razzak Mohammad Shahid Nazmul Hossain Ajantha Mendis Fidel Edwards Abu Sayem Chowdhury Subashis Roy
Matches
Phase 1
Phase 2
Phase 3
Playoffs
Qualifier 1
Eliminator
Qualifier 2
Final
Statistics
Most runs Player Team RunsKumar Sangakkara Dhaka Dynamites 349Imrul Kayes Comilla Victorians 312 Tamim Iqbal Chittagong Vikings 298 Mahmudullah Riyad Barisal Bulls 279 Tillakaratne Dilshan Chittagong Vikings 260 Source: ESPNcricinfo
Most wickets ! Player Team Wickets Kevon Cooper Barisal Bulls 22 Abu Hider Comilla Victorians 21 Thisara Perera Rangpur Riders 18 Shakib Al Hasan Rangpur Riders 18 Ashar Zaidi Comilla Victorians 17 Source: Cricinfo.com
Highest team totals The following table lists the three highest team scores during this season. Team Total Opponent Ground Barisal Bulls 211/3 (20 overs) Chittagong Vikings Sher-e-Bangla Cricket Stadium Chittagong Vikings 187/7 (20 overs) Rangpur Riders Sher-e-Bangla Cricket Stadium Chittagong Vikings 180/5 (20 overs) Sylhet Super Stars Sher-e-Bangla Cricket Stadium
References
External links Official website BPL 2016 Player list, Start Date, Schedule, New Teams and venue