Rangpur Riders
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| রংপুর রাইডার্স | ||
| File:Rangpur Riders Revised Logo.png | ||
| Nickname(s) | Riders of Hope, জয়ের লড়াই (Joyer Lorai) | |
|---|---|---|
| League | Bangladesh Premier League | |
| Personnel | ||
| Captain |  Mashrafe Mortaza | |
| Coach |  Tom Moody | |
| Owner | Bashundhara Group | |
| Team information | ||
| City | Rangpur, Rangpur Division, Bangladesh | |
| Colors |  | |
| Founded | 2012 | |
| History | ||
| Bangladesh Premier League wins | 1(V) | |
| Official website | rangpurriders | |
| ||
The Rangpur Riders (Rangpuri/Template:Lang-bn) are a professional cricket team based in Rangpur City, Rangpur. The Riders compete in Bangladesh Premier League (BPL), the premier cricket league in Bangladesh. The Riders are headquartered at the Bashundhara Residential Area in Dhaka.[1] They use Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium for most home games.
The Riders joined the league as a member in 2013, prior to the second edition of the tournament. Although the ownership of the team changed multiple times, the team structure stayed at its original form since the foundation of the team. The team is currently owned by Bashundhara Group, a pioneering conglomerate based in Bangladesh. [2] The team is captained by Mashrafe Mortaza.
In the 5th edition of BPL, Rangpur Riders defeated Dhaka Dynamites in the finals to win their first title.
Franchise history
The Rangpur Riders was established in 2012, afterward 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.[3] 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.
Team history
Debut season (2012/13)
Rangpur 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 16.8 million (US$208,000).
Summary
| Most Runs | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Innings | Runs | Average | SR | Highest Score |
| Shamsur Rahman |
12 | 421 | 42.10 | 130.74 | 98* |
| Most Wickets | |||||
| Player | Matches | Wickets | Average | Economy | Best Figures |
| Abdur Razzak (cricketer) |
12 | 17 | 19.35 | 7.65 | 4/33 |
Season 2015/16
Riders of Hope gets 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 bought 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 couldn't qualify for the final thanks to loss against Barisal Bulls in the 2nd qualifier after a win against Dhaka Dynamites in the eliminator.
Summary
| Most Runs | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Innings | Runs | Average | SR | Highest Score |
 Lendl Simmons |
10 | 221 | 22.10 | 102.79 | 73 |
| Most Wickets | |||||
| Player | Matches | Wickets | Average | Economy | Best Figures |
| Shakib Al Hasan |
11 | 18 | 14.55 | 6.39 | 4/16 |
- colour choice according to jersey colours of that season
Season 2016/17
Prior 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.
Summary
| Most Runs | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Innings | Runs | Average | SR | Highest Score |
 Mohammad Shahzad |
11 | 350 | 38.88 | 110.06 | 80* |
| Most Wickets | |||||
| Player | Matches | Wickets | Average | Economy | Best Figures |
 Shahid Afridi |
11 | 17 | 14.94 | 6.35 | 4/12 |
Season 2017/18
Previous 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 chinaman bowler Zahir Khan.
Season 2018/19
Riders have retained Mashrafe Mortaza, Mohammad Mithun, Nazmul Islam and Chris Gayle. They have also signed English opener Alex Hales and South Africa’s AB de Villiers has ‘verbally agreed’ to play for the franchise. AB will play 9 matches and more if the team advances to the playoffs.
Overall records
| Season | Matches | Wins | Losses | No Result | Run Rate | Summary |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | ||||||
| 2013 | 12 | 5 | 7 | 0 | -.506 | 5th (of 7) |
| 2015/16 | 10 | 7 | 3 | 0 | +.609 | 3rd (of 6) |
| 2016/17 | 12 | 5 | 7 | 0 | –0.345 | 5th (of 7) |
| 2017/18 | 15 | 9 | 6 | 0 | -0.267 | 1st (of 7) |
Sponsorship
| Year | Kit Manufacturer | Shirt sponsor (chest) | Shirt sponsor (back) | Chest Branding |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Lotto | BBS Cables Ltd | Fresh Cement Industries Ltd. | Bangla Cash |
| 2016 | Sohana Sports | Bashundhara Group | Amin Mohammad Group | Amber |
| 2017 | Social Islami Bank Limited | Bashundhara Tissue | Rupayan City Uttara | |
| 2018 |
Current squad
- As of
| No. | Name | Nat | Birth Date | Batting Style | Bowling Style | Signed Year | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Batsmen | ||||||||
| 333 | Chris Gayle | |
21 September 1979 | Left-handed | Right-arm off break | 2017 | Overseas | |
| 10 | Alex Hales |  |
3 January 1989 | Right-handed | Right-arm medium | 2018 | Overseas | |
| 17 | AB de Villiers |  |
17 February 1984 | Right-handed | Right-arm medium | 2018 | Overseas | |
| All-rounders | ||||||||
| Wicket-keepers | ||||||||
| 8 | Mohammad Mithun | |
13 February 1990 | Right-handed | — | 2015 | ||
| Bowlers | ||||||||
| 2 | Mashrafe Mortaza | |
5 October 1983 | Right-handed | Right-arm medium-fast | 2017 | Captain | |
| 21 | Nazmul Islam | |
21 March 1991 | Left-handed | Slow left-arm orthodox | 2017 | ||
Administrators and support staff[2]
- Head Coach: Tom Moody
- Bowling Coach: Mohammad Rafique
- Fielding Coach: Fahim Alim
- Team Manager: Prof. Anwarul Iqbal
- Mentor: Nazmul Abedin Fahim
- Adviser: Naimur Rahman
- Chairman: Mostofa Azad Mohiuddin
- CEO: Ishtiak Sadeque
- Managing Director: Safwan Sobhan
- Director(s): Mizanur Rahman, Jabed Iqbal
Former head coaches
Special Initiatives
A talent-hunt contest was organised by Rangpur Riders officials on 27th, 28th and 29th of September 2017. It was branded as Riders Hunt and the slogan was “be the next rider". Mashrafe Mortaza, their skipper, was present in the event. More than 3500 participated in the contest while only 20 were announced winners of the contest.
Rangpur Riders also sponsored say-no-to-suicide and respect autism campaign. They also supported some of the people in Bangladesh’s Rangpur Division affected by the 2017 South Asian floods.
References
- ^ http://www.facebook.com/ridersofhope
- ^ a b "Rangpur Riders begin new journey with Bashundhara Group". Bashundhara Group.
- ^ "I Sports new BPL franchise". bdnews24.com. Retrieved 19 November 2016.
External links
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