The Bangladesh Cricket Board’s new D3 Trophy will use a points-based auction to build the six franchise squads, with each team allowed to pick up to 23 players.
BCB Cricket Operations in-charge Shahriar Nafees said the tournament had already created interest among the media and fans after two programmes.
“Alhamdulillah, we have been able to organise two programmes for the D3 Tournament successfully so far, and we believe the concept of the tournament and its overall activities have created quite a stir among the print and electronic media as well as the general public,” Nafees said.
The D3 Trophy will bring T20, 50-over and four-day cricket under one tournament. Six franchises will compete in the new domestic competition.
The player auction will follow a different system from the usual franchise auctions. Players will not simply earn more because they attract higher bids. Instead, each team will have a fixed points purse.
“The auction will be based on a points system,” Nafees said. “Each team will have a fixed points purse and cannot exceed that limit. They will have to build their squads within those points.”
The six franchises have already selected their icon players. Mehedi Hasan Miraz, Towhid Hridoy, Mosaddek Hossain, Mushfiqur Rahim, Nurul Hasan Sohan and Mohammad Naim were picked by Walton, Fortune, ACME, Seven Rings Cement, H Bluestar and Citizens Bank respectively.
Each team will have a 23-player squad, with the remaining 22 players to be selected through the auction.
“We said that each team must have 23 players. We already announced on the launch day who the six players are. So, each team will now take part in the auction for the remaining 22 players,” Nafees said.
The player auction is scheduled for October 26. The D3 Trophy will begin with the T20 competition on December 15 in Barishal.
