Khulna Royal Bengals

Franchise history

Bangladesh Premier League is a cricket tournament being organised by Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB). For the inaugural tournament held in 2012, the BCB had finalised a list of 6 teams who will be participating in the tournament. The teams representing 6 different Division of Bangladesh, including Khulna, were put up on auction in Dhaka on 10 January 2012, and the Khulna team was won by Orion Group, who paid US$1.10 million for it. This was the second highest bid for a team in the BPL. In November 2012 Orion Properties, Aziz Group and Khan Brothers Pvt Ltd have taken over the ownership of the team. Obaidul Karim, the Chairman of Orion Group has been elected the President of the franchise along with Sabbir Khan being the new chief executive.

2012 season

Khulna Royal Bengals, formed with the players like Shakib Al Hasan, Herschelle Gibbs, Sanath Jayasuriya, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Dwayne Smith, Andre Russell and a bunch of talented local players, started off their campaign successfully by winning against Dhaka Gladiators. They reached into semifinal easily with second position, while Duronto Rajshahi was the first. Winning all of the matches against Dhaka Gladiators in the group phase, they lost to them in the crucial semi final match and left out of the tournament. They failed to chase mediocre target while an unbeaten 86 knock by captain Shakib almost pulled them into victory. Despite not reaching the finals, their Icon Player, Shakib Al Hasan won the Player of the Tournament award for his outstanding performance throughout the series.

2013 season

Khulna Royal Bengals batting department appears very stable and healthy with the experienced Shahriar Nafees leading the team as well as the batting, beside locals like Nazimuddin, Mizanur Rahman, Mithun Ali, and with Lou Vincent and Daniel Harris, it is going to be a tough job for the opposition to prevent the Royal Bengals from putting up a mountain of runs on the scoreboard. The wicketkeeper batsman Riki Wessels also adds as an asset to their batting, with a few centuries in domestic cricket this season. The bowling, however, would not be the strong point for this side, with only Shapoor Zadran, Shahadat Hossain and Dolar Mahmud as recognised bowlers in the team. Young Nabil Samad has shown great potential with 11 five-wicket and two ten-wicket hauls in first class cricket, but the rest are yet to make a mark. On the bright side, these uncapped locals get their golden opportunity this season like Sanjamul Islam.

Group stage