Liton Das was revealed as the highest category player (A+) of Sylhet Sixers in the next season of Bangladesh Premier League (BPL), leaving Mushfiqur Rahim in quandary as his previous franchise Rajshahi Kings opted the service of fast bowler Mustafizur Rahman as their A+ category player.

However the only team that didn’t send the list of retained players including the MVP was Chittagong Vikings, whose management showed their reluctance to run the team in this season.

The BPL governing council however has been in continuous touch with the franchise but things don’t look good. In the meantime, board director Akram Khan has been in talk with Chittagong Mayor and board’s vice-president AZM Nasir Uddin to take over the Chittagong team. If the discussion is fruitful, the franchise may remain in the tournament and in that case they would have no other way to take Mushfiqur as the A+ player.

If Chittagong franchise doesn’t participate in the tournament, Mushfiqur Rahim will be placed in the highest category during the players’ draft.  

As it was expected Mashrafe was retained as the A+ player of Rangpur Riders who retained another three players in Chris Gayle, left-arm spinner Nazmul Islam Opu and batsman Mohammad Mithun. They left out Brendon McCullum but hope to acquire his service during the players’ draft.

Dhaka Dynamites retained Shakib Al Hasan as A+ player and the other players were Rovman Powell, Sunil Narine and Keiron Pollard, meaning they didn’t retain any local players.

Sylhet Sixers retained Sabbir Rahman, Nasir Hossain and Sohail Tanvir and picked Liton as their A+ player.

Comilla Victorians reatianed Tamim Iqbal (A+), Imrul Kayes, Shoaib Malik and Mohammad Saifuddin. Khulna Titans retained Mahmullah Riyad (A+), Nazmul Hossain Shanto, Ariful Haque and Carlos Brathwaite. Rajshahi Kings picked Mustafizur as A+ player, leaving Mushfiqur Rahim while they retained Mehidy Hasan Miraj, Zakir Hasan and Mominul Haque.

All the franchisees are allowed to retain three players from the previous season including an Icon, according to the rules set by BPL governing council. The sixth edition of the cash-rich tournament however is set to roll on the ground from January 5. Originally scheduled to start in October, the domestic T20 tournament forced to defer the date due to the national election of the country.