Once again, Shakib Al Hasan makes a shift in the franchise of Bangladesh Premier League. After playing for Dhaka in the last few seasons, now, once again, he returns to his ex-franchise Rangpur Riders. He will be playing as their Iconic Player for the upcoming edition of the tournament.
Shakib Al Hasan, who played for the Dhaka Dynamites franchise for last three years, led Rangpur for one season in the third edition of BPL in 2015-16 and then captained Dhaka for the next three seasons.
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Shakib signed a Memorandum of Agreement with Rangpur on Wednesday and both the sides made the contract for the next year. The addition of Shakib Al Hasan as their icon player means that Mashrafe Mortaza is no longer an icon player for Riders.
I will try to deliver my best – Shakib Al Hasan
Speaking of the addition to the team, Shakib Al Hasan quoted that he is pretty happy to join the franchise again. Further, Shakib Al Hasan went on to add saying that he would give his best to lift the Trophy in 2019-2020 edition.
”I’m happy to be back to Rangpur Riders. I will try to deliver my best with them in the upcoming edition of BPL,” said Shakib at the press conference.
Mashrafe Mortaza is still in our plan –
Despite Mashrafe Mortaza being removed as the icon player, the franchise official quoted that he is still in their plans to retain. But, having nearing to his retirement, the franchise owners want him to be part of the team if they get the opportunity to retain him.
‘He [Mashrafee] is still in our plan. As Mashrafee already retired from Twenty20 internationals and is on the verge of retiring from the ODIs we think he won’t be an icon player for next season. We want to retain him in retain-ship quota,’ Sadek said on Wednesday.
The 32-year-old scored 136 runs and took 18 wickets in 11 matches the last time he played for Rangpur Riders. Shakib has scored nearly 1500 runs in Bangladesh Premier League and is the only bowler to take more than 100 wickets in the history of the tournament.
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The next season of BPL will kick off on 6 December this year. Before that, an opening ceremony is scheduled to be held on 3 December.