Sakib joins Riders for BPL 7

Ace Bangladesh all-rounder Sakib al Hasan on Wednesday was picked as the icon player of Rangpur Riders for the forthcoming seventh edition of Bangladesh Premier League, scheduled to start on December 6 this year.

Sakib, 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.

Sakib signed a Memorandum of Agreement with Rangpur on Wednesday and both the sides made the contract for the next one year.

Rangpur clinched its maiden BPL title during 2017-18 season under the leadership of Mashrafee bin Murtaza but they failed to qualify for the final in the next season earlier this year despite making it to the play-offs.

Rangpur’s chief executive officer Ishtiaq Sadek confirmed New Age that they were in talks about Mashrafee’s future with the team as they wanted to retain him as one of their four retained players.

‘He [Mashrafee] is still in our plan. As Mashrafee already retired from Twenty20 internationals and is on the verge of retiring from the ODIs so 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.

Sadek also confirmed that they have signed West Indian all-rounder Dwayne Bravo and Afghan all-rounder Mohammad Nabi as their two direct foreign signings before the tournament.

After the signing ceremony, Sakib expressed his joy for joining Rangpur, a side which is coached by Australian Tom Moody, with whom he worked in Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Indian Premier League.

‘I think Tom Moody is with the team and we worked together in Hyderabad. He will perform most of the responsibilities. My duty will be to bring the best from the other cricketers,’ Sakib told reporters during the signing ceremony in the capital.

‘I have worked as skipper previously and here I know everyone. I don’t think there will be a big problem,’ he added.

Sakib, however, didn’t say anything whether he will lead the side or not and said the decision will be made by the team management.

‘This is not my decision. I don’t think there should be these kind of question…The team will decide about it,’ he said.