The player draft for the special edition of BPL will be held on November 17. © Getty

Bangladesh Cricket Board on Saturday announced that seven teams will take part in the upcoming special edition of Bangladesh Premier League. The announcement was made during the logo unveiling ceremony hosted by BCB.

BCB decided to host the tournament all by themselves after they had cut ties with the franchises who were involved in the first six editions of BPL claiming that the franchises were making unreasonable demands.

"We have said it earlier that we are going to do it [special edition of BPL] on the occasion of 100th birth anniversary of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. We are not going to arrange it as a franchise-based competition, rather BCB will arrange the tournament. We will look for a sponsor for every team and if we get, then we can take them as sponsor. But all the teams belong to BCB. That is the main thing," BCB president Nazmul Hasan told reporters at the ceremony.

The participating teams are - Jamuna Bank Dhaka Platoon, Premier Bank Khulna Tigers, Rajshahi Royals, Rangpur Rangers, Sylhet Thunder, Cumilla Warriors and Chattogram Challengers. Dhaka Platoon and Khulna Tigers will be sponsored by Jamuna Bank and Premier Bank respectively while Chattogram Challengers will have the backing of Akhtar Furnishers. Jivani Footwear Company will sponsor Sylhet Thunders while IPC and Mind Tree will sponsor Rajshahi Royals.

As BCB failed to get any other sponsors they have decided to run Comilla Warriors and Sylhet Thunders by themselves while the seven teams will have the opportunity to pick players for their respective teams on November 17 from a players' draft event to be held in Dhaka.

"We all know that the countdown of Bangabandhu's birth anniversary is starting from December 8 as the government declared it. Our Prime Minister will inaugurate this BPL on the first day of the countdown. I think it's necessary and we are grateful to have such an opportunity. The countdown will start with Bangabandhu BPL. That's why we are saying this is most important."

A total of 181 Bangladesh players and 439 overseas players have registered for the players' draft. The local players are categorised in six different categories with Mashrafe Mortaza, Mushfiqur Rahim, Mahmudullah and Tamim Iqbal in Grade A+ category, having a price tag of TK 50 Lakh each (though that is TK 25 Lakh less than the previous year). The players of Grade A, B, C, D and E categories will get the same amount of money which they got in the last year.

Nine players in Grade A will have a price tag of TK 25 lakh while 24 players are in Grade B with a price tag of TK 18 lakh. The Grade C, D and E players will get TK 12 lakh, 8 lakh and 5 lakh each respectively.

While there is no place for Shakib Al Hasan as he is banned by ICC for failing to report corrupt approaches by the bookies, Nazmul insisted that they have assigned a member of Anti Corruption Unit so that are not embarrassed any further. Earlier, Mohammad Ashraful was banned for match fixing allegation in BPL.

"What we are doing is one anti-corruption unit person is assigned with every team and we have already taken that decision because I would say we had bad memories in the past," said Nazmul. "There is nothing to say about it. We want to be informed at the earliest if anything happens like that."

Although the number of foreign players has been increased this year, stalwarts like AB de Villiers, Steve Smith and David Warner who all participated in the previous edition of BPL, are missing.

The tournament will get underway on December 11.