The curtain has come down on the ninth season of the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL). Comilla Victorians became champions for the fourth time after defeating Sylhet Strikers by 7 wickets in the final of the season on Thursday (February 16). Due to the busy schedule, there was a shortage of foreign stars in this season from the beginning. However, the performance of the local players has caught the eye.
Domestic players have surpassed foreign stars in performance in this year’s BPL. As the teams are more or less dependent on indigenous players, they have got enough opportunities. As a result, they were able to match themselves. The proof of which is found in the list of highest run scorers and wicket takers.

The top names in the list of best-run scorers and best wicket-takers of this season are the country’s cricketers. The top 10 is also dominated by desi people. Besides Nazmul Hossain Shanto, Roni Talukder, Tauhid Hriday, Hasan Mahmud, Tanveer Islam and Shakib Al Hasan, Taskin Ahmed is in the XI.Cricket website ESPN Cricinfo has released the best XI based on performance in this year’s tournament. Most of the places in their best XI are supposed to come from the champions, runners-up, and the remaining two teams eliminated from the playoffs.

Apart from these four teams, only Taskin Ahmed of Dhaka Dominators got a place from the following three teams. Runners-up Sylhet Strikers and Rangpur Riders, who were eliminated in the second qualifier, got the maximum number of 3 places in the XI. Two are from champions Comilla Victorians and Fortune Barisal who were eliminated in the first qualifier. The other one is from Dhaka Dominators. The big surprise is that the captain of Dhaka Dominators, Nasir Hossain, who performed well with the bat, did not get a place in the XI. Among the foreigners in this event, Pakistani stars were the brightest. So most of the foreigners in the XI are Pakistanis.