By A Correspondent
Asia’s top sports content provider, ESPN STAR Sports (ESS) on Thursday announced the broadcast of the much-awaited inauguralBangladeshPremier League (BPL) from February 9-29 on STAR Cricket and STAR Sports.
As the biggest cricketing event inBangladesh, BPL will bring all the glitz and glamour of T20, featuring some of the top names in cricket from around the globe with 21 days of non-stop world-class cricket action and entertainment.
As the definitive rights holder of the best in international sporting events, ESPN STAR Sports will showcase this exciting new T20 event to cricket lovers across Asia, along with Channel 9, which will broadcast the tournament inBangladesh.
With the match action kicking off on February 10, the first edition of theBangladeshPremier League will feature six teams that will play each other twice in a round-robin format of over 33 matches held inChittagongandDhaka. Each team will feature a stellar mix of a leading icon player fromBangladeshalong with current T20 stars and cricketing greats, some of which are listed below.
| BarisalBurners | Shahriar Nafees | Bangladesh- Icon player |
| Brad Hodge | Australia | |
| Chris Gayle | West Indies | |
| ChittagongKings | Tamim Iqbal | Bangladesh- Icon player |
| Shoaib Malik | Pakistan | |
| Mutthaya Murlidharan | Sri Lanka | |
| Dwayne Bravo | West Indies | |
| KhulnaRoyal Bengals | Shakib Al Hasan | Bangladesh- Icon player |
| Nasir Hossain | Bangladesh | |
| Herschelle Gibbs | South Africa | |
| Sanath Jayasuriya | Sri Lanka | |
| S Chanderpaul | West Indies | |
| Sylhet Royals | Alok Kapali | Bangladesh- Icon player |
| Naeem Islam | Bangladesh | |
| Kamran Akmal | Pakistan | |
| Darren Sammy | West Indies | |
| Brad Hogg | Australia | |
| DhakaGladiators | Mohammad Ashraful | Bangladesh- Icon player |
| Nazim Uddin | Bangladesh | |
| Saeed Ajmal | Pakistan | |
| Shahid Afridi | Pakistan | |
| Keiron Pollard | West Indies | |
| Duronto Rajshahi | Mushfiqur Rahim | Bangladesh- Icon player |
| Zunaed Siddique | Bangladesh | |
| Abdul Razzaq | Pakistan | |
| Marlon Samuels | West Indies |
“We are delighted to support the expansion of T20 toBangladeshby bringing this exciting new tournament to cricket fans inAsia. As the rights holder for some of the globe’s best cricket events, including ICC World T20, CL T20, India-Australia test matches, ODI tri-series betweenAustralia,IndiaandSri Lanka, and England-Australia ODIs, we are pleased to addBangladeshPremier League to our portfolio of top cricket coverage,†said Joyee Biswas, Director, Programming of ESPN STAR Sports.
“As the first GEC of Bangladesh with a mix of Sports and Entertainment, and the producer of BPL T20, we are pleased to partner with ESPN STAR Sports to bring BPL to cricket lovers and look forward to a long term relationship,†said Enayetur Rahman, Managing Director of Channel 9.
Running from February 9-29, the tournament will feature a mix of 1-2 matches per day. On days when two games are played, the first match will begin at 2pm local time followed by the second match at 6.30pm. In addition to the Icon player fromBangladesh, each team is allowed 9 foreign players, 5 of who can play per match per team.
ESPN STAR Sports showcases an unparalleled variety of premier sports from around the globe featuring some of the most iconic sports events to viewers across 24 countries inAsia. ESPN STAR Sports operates from itsSingaporeheadquarters and has regional offices across six countries in Asia (China,Hong Kong,Taiwan,India,Malaysia,South Korea). ESPN STAR Sports features a comprehensive portfolio of multimedia assets including its 25 television channels, 3 broadband networks, digital content services, and its on-ground Event Management group.