The Bangladesh Premier League 2016, also known as BPL Season 4 and AKS BPL 2016 (for sponsorship reasons) was the fourth season of the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL), the top level professional Twenty20 cricket franchise league in Bangladesh. The competition was organised by the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) and featured seven teams. The season originally began on 4 November 2016 and ended on 9 December 2016. However, after the first four matches of the tournament were abandoned due to rain and with more rain forecast, the league opted to restart on 8 November and to replay all six of the opening six matches.

Two new teams, Khulna Titans and Rajshahi Kings played in the competition under new owners after the original franchisees were not allowed to enter the 2015 competition, while the Sylhet Super Stars franchise was excluded from the competition.Isam M (2016) Rajshahi, Khulna return to BPL with new owners, CricInfo, 21 September 2016. Retrieved 30 September 2016. The BCB originally claimed that Sylhet had breached franchisee agreements or not paid bank guarantees, but on 21 September clarified that the franchise had been excluded for "disciplinary reasons". Comilla Victorians were the defending champions but were eliminated in the group stage. In the championship game, Dhaka Dynamites defeated Rajshahi Kings to win their third title.

Draft and Squads 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.

Player transfers Prior to the 2016 draft, a number of high-profile players moved teams. These included transfers between competing teams and due to the suspension of the Sylhet Super Stars and the introduction of two new teams, Khulna Titans and Rajshahi Kings. Transfers included the move of Barisal Bulls captain Mahmudullah Riyad to the Khulna Titans, Chris Gayle from the Barisal Bulls to the Chittagong Vikings, the signing of Shahid Afridi as team captain of Rangpur Riders from the Sylhet Super Stars and Shakib Al Hasan as team captain of Dhaka Dynamites from Rangpur Riders.

Dhaka Dynamites Chittagong Vikings Barisal Bulls Khulna Titans Rajshahi Kings Rangpur Riders Comilla Victorians Shakib Al Hasan (c) Kumar Sangakkara Mahela Jayawardena Evin Lewis Ravi Bopara Dwayne Bravo Matt Coles Mosaddek Hossain Nasir Hossain Andre Russell Seekkuge Prasanna Irfan Shukkur Alauddin Babu Tanbir Hayder Suhrawardi Shuvo Sunzamul Islam Mohammad Shahid Wayne Parnell Usama Mir Mehedi Maruf Tamim Iqbal (c) Chris Gayle Anamul Haque Jahurul Islam Zakir Hasan Yasir Ali Grant Elliott Mohammad Nabi Shoaib Malik Dwayne Smith Jeevan Mendis Nazmul Hossain Milon Chaturanga de Silva Abdur Razzak Taskin Ahmed Shohidul Islam Tymal Mills Imran Khan Jubair Hossain Saqlain Sajib Subashis Roy Mushfiqur Rahim (c) Dilshan Munaweera Dawid Malan Shahriar Nafees Shamsur Rahman Dhiman Ghosh Nadif Chowdhury Carlos Brathwaite Josh Cobb Fazle Mahmud Rayad Emrit Jeevan Mendis Mohammad Nawaz Thisara Perera Mahedi Hasan Taijul Islam Al Amin Hossain Abu Hider Rony Kamrul Islam Rabbi Rumman Raees Monir Hossain Shahin Hossain Mahmudullah (c) Andre Fletcher Lendl Simmons Nicholas Pooran Riki Wessels Alok Kapali Ariful Haque Abdul Mazid Abu Sayem Kevon Cooper Benny Howell Shuvagata Hom Mosharraf Hossain Taibur Rahman Junaid Khan Ben Laughlin Mohammad Asghar Shafiul Islam Abdul Halim Hasanuzzaman Saddam Hossain Naeem Islam Jnr Darren Sammy (c) Rony Talukder Upul Tharanga Umar Akmal Mehidy Hasan Miraz Mominul Haque Samit Patel Sabbir Rahman Farhad Reza Nurul Hasan Raqibul Hasan Salman Hossain Emon Milinda Siriwardana Abul Hasan Delwar Hossain Ebadot Hossain Mohammad Sami Nazmul Islam Kesrick Williams Naeem Islam (c) Babar Azam Mohammad Mithun Mohammad Shahzad Nasir Jamshed Pinak Ghosh David Miller Gidron Pope Gihan Rupasinghe Sharjeel Khan Muktar Ali Shahid Afridi Dasun Shanaka Sohag Gazi Soumya Sarkar Ziaur Rahman Anwar Ali Arafat Sunny Elias Sunny Richard Gleeson Rubel Hossain Sachithra Senanayake Jupiter Ghosh Mehrab Hossain Shahbaz Chouhan Mashrafe Mortaza (c) Ahmed Shehzad Imrul Kayes Litton Das Najmul Hossain Shanto Rovman Powell Marlon Samuels Shahzaib Hasan Ashar Zaidi Khalid Latif Imad Wasim Mohammad Saifuddin Nahidul Islam Rashid Khan Shykat Ali Jason Holder Nuwan Kulasekara Nabil Samad Sohail Tanvir Abdullah Al Mamun Al-Amin Jasimuddin Mohammad Sharif

Venues A total of 46 matches, including the final, were played at two venues in Chittagong and Dhaka. The Zohur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chittagong hosted eleven (11) matches in the middle block of games, with the majority of matches (35), including all playoff matches and the final being held at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Dhaka. 25,000 people attended the final.

Chittagong Dhaka Zohur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium Capacity: 22,000 Capacity: 25,000

Points table

The top four teams qualified for playoffs advanced to the Qualifier advanced to the Eliminator

League stage A total of 46 matches were played in the tournament. During the round-robin group stage each team played 12 matches, two against each other team taking part in the tournament. In total 42 matches were played in the group stage, with the top four teams progressing to the playoff stage of the tournament where three playoff matches and the final were played, the final taking place on 9 December at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Dhaka.

Group stage matches were 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 were 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 rescheduled and the matches from the opening day of fixtures replayed, with the points table reset.

Rain-affected fixtures The following six matches were all affected by rain, with only the first one technically starting with a toss taking place. All of the results were removed from the points table and rescheduled for later in the tournament.

Phase 1

Phase 2

Phase 3

Playoffs

Eliminator

Qualifier 1

Qualifier 2

Final

Statistics

Most runs Player Team Matches Runs Tamim Iqbal Chittagong Vikings 13 476 Mahmudullah Khulna Titans 14 396 Sabbir Rahman Rajshahi Kings 15 377 Mohammad Shahzad Rangpur Riders 11 350 Mushfiqur Rahim Barisal Bulls 12 341 Source: Cricinfo.com

Most wickets Player Team Matches Wickets Dwayne Bravo Dhaka Dynamites 1321 Junaid Khan Khulna Titans 1420 Mohammad Nabi Chittagong Vikings 1319 Shafiul Islam Khulna Titans 1318 Shahid Afridi Rangpur Riders1117 Source: Cricinfo.com

Highest team totals The following table lists the three highest team scores during the season. Team Total Opponent Ground Dhaka Dynamites 194/5 (20 overs) Comilla Victorians Sher-e-Bangla Cricket Stadium Barisal Bulls 192/4 (20 overs) Rajshahi Kings Sher-e-Bangla Cricket Stadium Chittagong Vikings 190/5 (20 overs) Rajshahi Kings Zohur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium Source: Cricinfo.com

See also Rajshahi Kings in 2016 Khulna Titans in 2016 Barisal Bulls in 2016 Comilla Victorians in 2016 Dhaka Dynamites in 2016 Rangpur Riders in 2016 Chittagong Vikings in 2016

References

External links Series home at ESPN Cricinfo