Rangpur Riders (Rangpuriya/Bengali: রংপুর রাইডার্স), is a professional cricket team based in Rangpur. The Riders compete in Bangladesh Premier League (BPL), the premier cricket league in Bangladesh.[1] This team took part in 2024 Global Super League[2][3] and became the champion gaining their maiden title.
| রংপুর রাইডার্স | ||
 | ||
| League | Bangladesh Premier League | |
|---|---|---|
| Personnel | ||
| Captain | Nurul Hasan | |
| Coach | Mickey Arthur | |
| Owner | Bashundhara Group | |
| Team information | ||
| City | Rangpur City, Bangladesh | |
| Founded | 2012 (Rangpur Riders) Participant 2013-2018 (as Rangpur Riders) 2019 (as Rangpur Rangers) 2023-2025 (as Rangpur Riders) | |
| Home ground | Rangpur Stadium, Rangpur | |
| History | ||
| Bangladesh Premier League wins | 1 (2017) | |
| Global Super League wins | 1 (2024) | |
| Official website | www | |
| ||
Although the ownership of the team changed multiple times, the team structure has stayed at its original form since the foundation of the team.[4]
In the 5th edition of BPL, they defeated Dhaka Dynamites in the finals to win their first title.
On 16 November 2019, Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) announced Incepta Pharmaceuticals as the sponsor of the team, and it was renamed to Rangpur Rangers.[5] The team was excluded from 2021–22 Bangladesh Premier League.[6] In September 2022, Bashundhara Group acquired the ownership and renamed the team back to Rangpur Riders.[7] Rangpur and American Minor League Cricket club Atlanta Fire co-own the Atlanta Riders, who began play in the US Masters T10 league in 2023.[8]
History
editThe Rangpur Riders was ISports established in 2012, after the first season of the Bangladesh Premier League. The team was bought by Mustafa Rafiqul Islam, owner of iSports Limited. The franchise right were bought for US$1.1 million at a closed-door auction. Haque Brothers Industries Limited also participated in the bid, but failed to outbid iSports Limited, a sister-concern of Flora Telecom.[9] The Riders joined the tournament in 2013 as the seventh team, representing the newly declared Rangpur Division. The team ownership was transferred to Sohana Sports which is now managed by Bashundhara Group, a pioneering conglomerate of Bangladesh.
Season overview
editDebut season/Season Two
editRangpur Riders were the newest addition to franchise during the second edition of the league. The team began its league run with Nasir Hossain as their icon player, and Abdur Razzak (cricketer) as the captain. Pakistani legendary spinner Saqlain Mushtaq was appointed as the coach. The Riders picked up their first victory against Chittagong Kings, winning by 6 wickets. The team ended the season with five wins, and seven loss, resulting in a point-table tie with Duronto Rajshahi, later dropping off from the playoffs due to lower Net Run Rate than Rajshahi. Nasir Hossain was the highest paid cricketer of the team with a salary of US$208,000.
Season Three
editRiders of Hope got its hope for this season when they purchase Shakib Al Hasan as their Icon player for this season in the newly introduced Player Draft policy instead of Bidding like previous 2 seasons.
This season Rangpur Riders hired Shane Jurgensen as their head coach to make a tough team as per their promise in the Player Draft. This season they did pick some well known local players, like- Shakib Al Hasan, Arafat Sunny, Soumya Sarkar, Al-Amin, Saqlain Sajib and few more, along with some classy international T20 specialist Lendl Simmons, Darren Sammy, Sachithra Senanayake, Mohammad Nabi with some experienced face, like Misbah-ul-Haq.
This well balanced team ended the season by capturing 3rd position in the League but could not qualify for the final thanks to loss against Barisal Bulls in the 2nd qualifier after a win against Dhaka Dynamites in the eliminator.
Season Four
editPrior to the fourth season, the ownership of the Riders were transferred to Sohana Sports. The team rearranged its playing squad, with Shahid Afridi, Soumya Sarkar, Mohammad Shehzad and many other acclaimed cricketers. Shakib Al Hasan, the icon player from the previous edition was transferred to Dhaka Dynamites. The club also included rising star Babar Azam, hard-hitting all-rounder Dasun Shanaka in their squad and signing Sohag Gazi and Rubel Hossain proved beneficial for the bowling attack. Having Ziaur Rahman in the playing eleven who was also picked in the draft seemed useful as he provided some big hits when batting. Retaining Mohammad Mithun was a good call as he was the second highest run scorer for the team that season and Arafat Sunny took magical figures of 3/0 against Khulna Titans which proves he was also worth retaining.
The Riders started the season strong with a dominating victory against Chittagong Vikings, winning the match by 9 wickets with Mohammad Shahzad scoring 80 runs. The team continued its domination during its second game, getting Khulna Titans all out for 44, the lowest ever total in Bangladesh Premier League. They lost their way later on and finished fifth in the team rankings, thus, not qualifying for the playoffs.
Season Five
editPrevious icon player Soumya Sarkar left the team, resulting in the team announcing Mashrafe Mortaza as the new icon and captain. They signed Jamaican t20 specialist, Chris Gayle, one of the cleanest hitter of the cricket ball, former New Zealand captain and opener Brendon McCullum and Lankan genuine swinger, Lasith Malinga They also signed two English seam bowling all-rounder David Willey and Ravi Bopara. Their other squad members include West Indian leggie Samuel Badree and more. They Retained Rubel Hossain and Sohag Gazi. Both of them bowled well last season. The third retained player is Mohammad Mithun who was their second highest run scorer last season. They picked English batter Sam Hain, Afghan batting all-rounder Samiullah Shenwari, experienced orthodox spinners Abdur Razzak (cricketer) and more from the draft.
They picked 8 locals and 3 foreigners from the draft which is 1 more than the minimum requirement for each category. Their first pick was Shahriar Nafees, a prominent Bangladeshi batsman. The surprise picks were inexperienced and little-known Afghan slow left-arm wrist-spin bowler Zahir Khan.
Rangpur began their campaign with a win against Rajshahi Kings. They suffered a few defeats on the way but managed to qualify for the playoffs, finished 4th in the league stage, just enough for the qualification. In the eliminator against Khulna Titans, Chris Gayle won them the match with an unbeaten 126. In the 2nd qualifier against Comilla Victorians, Johnson Charles won them the match with his maiden century in t20 cricket. In the final, Chris Gayle once again smacked a hundred, this time a record 146*. The bowlers also did very well which won them their first championship. Their skipper Mashrafe Mortaza has now won 4 BPLs out of 5 for 3 different teams.
Season Six
editRiders have retained Mashrafe Mortaza, Mohammad Mithun, Nazmul Islam, Ravi Bopara and Chris Gayle. They have also signed English opener Alex Hales and South African batsmen AB de Villiers. AB will play 9 matches and more if the team advances to the playoffs.
In the draft, they signed the likes of Shafiul Islam, Abul Hasan, Sohag Gazi and Nahidul Islam. They signed Rilee Rossouw, Benny Howell and Oshane Thomas from the international category.
Season Seven (2019–20)
editThe captain Mashrafe Mortaza was released and Shakib Al Hasan, the captain of Dhaka Dynamites, left the team and joined Riders for the season.[10] During the player's direct signing period, a Conflict of Interests aroused between BCB and all other franchise. Subsequently, in September 2019, BCB made some changes in rules and regulations for this season and eliminating all franchises, BCB took over the charge of the current BPL and decided to run this current tournament by the board itself and named the tournament as Bangabandhu BPL T20 2019 in order to pay homage to Sheikh Mujibur Rahman on his birth centenary.[11] Apparently the team was owned by BCB itself but later Incepta Pharmaceuticals became the team sponsor of Rangpur. They renamed it to ‘Rangpur Rangers’.[12]
Season Eight
editSeason Nine
editSeason 10
editRiders of Hope got its hope for this season when they purchased Shakib Al Hasan as their Icon player for this season in the newly introduced Player Draft policy instead of Bidding like previous 2 seasons. Overseas Players include Babar Azam, Mohammad Nabi, Azmatullah Omarzai, Jimmy Neesham as well as Imran Tahir.
The Rangpur Riders opened its campaign against Fortune Barishal.The game was played on 20 January which ended in ,Rangpur Riders defeated Fortune Barishal by five wickets to the lose opening match.
Seasons
editBangladesh Premier League
edit| Year | League standing | Final standing |
|---|---|---|
| 2013 | 5th out of 7 | League stage |
| 2015 | 3rd out of 6 | Playoffs |
| 2016 | 3rd out of 7 | League stage |
| 2017 | 4th out of 7 | Champions |
| 2019 | 1st out of 7 | Playoffs |
| 2019–20 | 6th out of 7 | League stage |
| 2022 | Did not participate | |
| 2023 | 3rd out of 7 | Playoffs |
| 2024 | 1st out of 7 | Playoffs |
- Global Super League
| Year | League standing | Final standing |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 2nd out of 5 | Champions |
Current squad
edit| Name | Nationality | Batting style | Bowling style | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Batters | ||||
| Saif Hassan |  Bangladesh
|
Right-handed | Right arm off break | |
| Tawfique Khan | Bangladesh
|
Right hand | Right arm Leg break | |
| Steven Taylor |  United States
|
Left-handed | Right-arm off break | overseas |
| Sediqullah Atal |  Afghanistan
|
Left-handed | overseas | |
| Wicket-keepers | ||||
| Nurul Hasan (C) | Bangladesh
|
Right-handed | Captain | |
| Irfan Sukkur | Bangladesh
|
Left-handed | ||
| All-rounders | ||||
| Mahedi Hasan | Bangladesh
|
Right-handed | Right-arm off break | |
| Khushdil Shah |  Pakistan
|
Left-handed | Slow left-arm orthodox | Overseas |
| Soumya Sarkar | Bangladesh
|
Left-handed | Right arm fast-medium | |
| Mohammad Saifuddin | Bangladesh
|
Left-handed | Right-arm fast-medium | |
| Iftikhar Ahmed | Pakistan
|
Right-handed | Right-arm off break | Overseas |
| Curtis Campher |  Ireland
|
Right-handed | Right-arm fast-medium | overseas |
| Pace bowlers | ||||
| Nahid Rana | Bangladesh
|
Right-handed | Right-arm fast | |
| Rejaur Rahman Raja | Bangladesh
|
Right-handed | Right-arm fast-medium | |
| Saurabh Netravalkar | United States
|
Right handed | Left-arm fast-medium | overseas |
| Akif Javed | Pakistan
|
Right-handed | Left-arm fast | overseas |
| Kamrul Islam Rabbi | Bangladesh
|
Right-handed | Right-arm fast-medium | |
| Spin bowlers | ||||
| Rakibul Hasan | Bangladesh
|
Left-handed | Slow Left arm Orthodox | |
| Allah Mohammad Ghazanfar | Afghanistan
|
Right handed | Right arm off-break | overseas |
Global Super League 2024 squad
edit| Name | Nationality | Batting style | Bowling style | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Batters | ||||
| Saif Hassan | Bangladesh
|
Right-handed | Right arm off break | |
| Wayne Madsen |  Italy
|
Right-handed | Right-arm off break | overseas |
| Steven Taylor | United States
|
Left-handed | Right-arm off break | overseas |
| Wicket-keepers | ||||
| Nurul Hasan (C) | Bangladesh
|
Right-handed | Captain | |
| All-rounders | ||||
| Mahedi Hasan | Bangladesh
|
Right-handed | Right-arm off break | |
| Afif Hossain | Bangladesh
|
Left-handed | Right-arm off break | |
| Rishad Hossain | Bangladesh
|
Right-handed | Right-arm leg break | |
| Soumya Sarkar | Bangladesh
|
Left-handed | Right arm fast-medium | |
| Mohammad Saifuddin | Bangladesh
|
Left-handed | Right-arm fast-medium | |
| Khushdil Shah | Pakistan
|
Left-handed | Slow Left arm Orthodox | overseas |
| Pace bowlers | ||||
| Kamrul Islam Rabbi | Bangladesh
|
Right-handed | Right-arm fast-medium | |
| Zak Chappell |  England
|
Right-handed | Right-arm fast-medium | Overseas |
| Matthew Forde |  West Indies
|
Right-handed | Right-arm medium | Overseas |
| Spin bowlers | ||||
| Arafat Sunny | Bangladesh
|
Left-handed | Slow Left arm Orthodox | |
| Harmeet Singh | United States
|
Left-handed | Slow Left arm Orthodox | Overseas |
References
edit- ^ http://www.facebook.com/ridersofhope [user-generated source]
- ^ "গ্লোবাল টি টোয়েন্টি লিগের জন্য শক্তিশালী দল ঘোষণা রংপুরের, আছেন যারা". Channel 24.
- ^ "Rangpur Riders, Cricket Victoria reveal GSL T20 squads". Guyana Times. 7 November 2024. Retrieved 8 November 2024.
- ^ "Rangpur Riders begin new journey with Bashundhara Group". Bashundhara Group.
- ^ "7 teams announced for Bangabandhu BPL". daily Bangladesh. 16 November 2019.
- ^ "BPL 2022 franchises finalised, not team from Rajshahi or Rangpur". Bdcrictime.com. Dhaka. 12 December 2021. Retrieved 12 December 2021.
- ^ "Pakistan players' availability - Boost for BPL franchises". Cricbuzz. 18 October 2022. Retrieved 19 October 2022.
- ^ Shams, Aunim (20 April 2024). "The fault in our franchises: An interview with Rangpur Riders CEO". The Business Standard. Retrieved 27 November 2024.
- ^ "I Sports new BPL franchise". bdnews24.com. Retrieved 19 November 2016.
- ^ "Rangpur Riders sign Shakib for upcoming season". Cricbuzz. 31 July 2019.
- ^ "BCB to conduct T20 tournament instead of BPL after fallout with franchises". Cricbuzz. 11 September 2019.
- ^ "Atlanta riders". T ten sports.