Manager: Syed Easir Alam Official website: Official website Coach Javed Omar | BPL wins: 0 Captain Naeem Islam Date founded 2012 | |
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Nickname(s): The RidersRiders of Hope Owner: MD Mizanur Rahman (Sohana Group) Profiles | ||
The Rangpur Riders 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 team plays its games at Shere Bangla National Stadium in the town of Mirpur, Dhaka and Zohur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in the town of Pahartali, Chittagong. The Riders are also headquartered at Banani, Dhaka.
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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 structures stayed at its original form since the foundation of the team. The team is currently owned by Sohana Sports. Dr. Kazi Ertaza Hassan is serving as the chairman & MD Mizanur Rahman as Managing Director of the team. The Riders are coached by former Bangladesh National Cricket Team player Javed Omar, replacing the previous coach Shane Jurgensen, and led by Pakistani all-rounder Shahid Afridi.
The Riders have appeared in two seasons of the tournament, and have never made its way to the championship game. Bangladeshi left hand opener Soumya Sarkar is leading scorer for the team with 209 runs at an average of 16.53 and Arafat Sunny is the leading wicket taker with 21 wickets.
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. The Riders joined the tournament in 2013 as the seventh team, representing the newly declared Rangpur Division. The team ownership was transferred to MD Mizanur Rahman (Sohana Group)
Season Two
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 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).
Season Three
Riders of Hope gets its hope for this season when they find 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 end up the season by capturing 3rd position in the League.
Season Four
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 made headlines with acquisition of Shane Watson, David Miller and Anwar Ali.
The Riders started the season strong with a dominating victory against Chittagong Vikings, winning the match by 9 wickets with Mohammad Shehzad 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.