Sylhet Strikers (

Sylheti Sylheti may refer to: * Sylhetis, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group in the Sylhet division and South Assam * Sylheti language, a language of the Sylheti region * Sylheti Nagri Sylheti Nagri or Sylheti Nagari ( syl, , ISO: , ), known in cla ...

/ bn, সিলেট স্ট্রাইকার্স) is a professional cricket franchise team based in

Sylhet, Bangladesh Sylhet Division ( bn, সিলেট বিভাগ) is the northeastern division of Bangladesh. It is bordered by the Indian states of Meghalaya, Assam and Tripura to the north, east and south respectively, and by the Bangladeshi divisions of ...

. The team competes in the

Bangladesh Premier League The Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) ( bn, বাংলাদেশ প্রিমিয়ার লীগ) is a professional Twenty20 cricket league consisting of seven franchises. The BPL is one of the three professional cricket leagues in ...

. The franchise made their debut at the

2012 Bangladesh Premier League The 2012 Bangladesh Premier League, also known as Destiny- boishakhi BPL 2012 (for sponsorship reasons), was the first season of the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) established by the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB). The competition featured six ...

. The team was owned by Sylhet Sports Limited in care of

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mo ...

's former Finance Minister

Abul Maal Abdul Muhith Abul Maal Abdul Muhith (25 January 1934 – 30 April 2022) was a Bangladeshi economist, writer, civil servant, secretary, diplomat and politician. He served as the Finance Minister of the government of Bangladesh from January 2009 until January ...

. His son, Shahed Muhith is the Chairman of team. The Sixers announced

Waqar Younis Waqar Younis Maitla HI (Punjabi, ur, ; born 16 November 1971) is a Pakistani cricket coach, commentator and former cricketer who captained Pakistan national cricket team. A right-arm fast bowler, Waqar Younis is regarded as one of the great ...

as head coach and International Cricketer, David Warner as captain for the sixth edition of

. Former

Bangladesh National Cricket Team The Bangladesh men's national cricket team ( bn, বাংলাদেশ জাতীয় ক্রিকেট দল), popularly known as The Tigers, is administered by the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB). It is a Full Member of the Inter ...

all-rounder

Alok Kapali Alok Kapali ( bn, অলোক কাপালী; born 1 January 1984) is a Bangladeshi cricketer. He is an allrounder who bats in the middle to lower order and bowls leg spin. He was the first Bangladeshi to take a Test hat-trick. Early life ...

took over as captain after Warner's departure, due to injury. On 16 November 2019, 24Bazar.biz was named as the sponsor of the team and it was renamed to Sylhet Thunder. The team changed ownership ahead of the

2021–22 Bangladesh Premier League The 2021–22 Bangladesh Premier League, also known as BPL 8 or Bangabandhu BPL 2021–22 presented by BBS Cables and powered by Walton (for sponsorship reasons), was the eighth season of the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL), the top-level prof ...

. The team was rebranded as Sylhet Sunrisers after changing owners ahead of

. In September 2022, Future Sports Bangladesh acquired the ownership and renamed the team to Sylhet Strikers.

History

Sylhet Sixers is a new Franchisee, created in 2017, competing in Bangladesh Premier League, chaired by architect, social activist and IT Specialist Shahed Muhit. The team's management has extensive experience in sports team management. The management intends to use the team to bridge the gap between the cricket stars and passionate fans and engage the youth to divert their focus to wholesome sporting activities. Sylhet Sixers is the brainchild of a Bangladesh MP, Abul Maal Abdul Muhit. A management team composed of former cricketers, coaches, lawyers, business entrepreneurs formed to start the Sylhet Sixers. Mr. Maashed R. Abdullah and Mr. Yasir Obaid both textile entrepreneurs had joined the Sixers as managing director and CEO respectively.

Season overview

2017–18

The Sylhet Franchise returned to BPL under the Sylhet Sixers banner. The team's icon player was

Sabbir Rahman Mohammad Sabbir Rahman ( bn, মোহাম্মদ সাব্বির রহমান; born 22 November 1988) is a Bangladeshi cricketer. He is from Rajshahi and besides the national team, he plays for Rajshahi Division and the BPL. He is a ...

and was captained by all-rounder Nasir Hossain. They lured wicket-keeper

Nurul Hasan Saiyid Nurul Hasan (26 December 1921 – 12 July 1993) was an Indian historian and an elder statesman in the Government of India. A member of the Rajya Sabha, he was the Union Minister of State (with Independent Charges) of Education, So ...

and orthodox spinner and

Taijul Islam Taijul Islam (Bengali: তাইজুল ইসলাম; born 7 February 1992) is a Bangladeshi left-arm orthodox spinner who plays for the Bangladesh national cricket team. He made his international debut for Bangladesh in September 2014. Tai ...

as pre-draft signings. Their foreign player signings included

Krishmar Santokie Krishmar Santokie (born 20 December 1984) is a cricketer who plays for Jamaica and has represented the West Indies at international Twenty20 level. He bowls left-arm medium pace and is a lower order batsman. Domestic career He represented the G ...

Babar Azam Mohammad Babar Azam (Urdu, pa, ; born 15 October 1994), is a Pakistani international cricketer and captain of the Pakistan national cricket team in all formats. Regarded as one of the finest batters in contemporary world cricket, he is the o ...

Liam Plunkett Liam Edward Plunkett (born 6 April 1985) is an English cricketer who bowls right-arm fast. He was an England international until 2019, and was part of the squad that won the 2019 Cricket World Cup. He most recently played domestic cricket for ...

, Andre Fletcher, Upul Tharanga, Ross Whitely and more. At the draft, pacer

Abul Hasan Abu Al-Hasan ( ar, أبو الحسن, Abū Al-Ḥasan, Father of Hasan), also transliterated Abu'l Hasan, is an Arabic ''kunya'' ('teknonym'). It may refer to: Notable people Politics and military * Ali ibn Abi Talib (600–661), the fourth ...

was their first pick. Their first foreign pick was Lankan all-rounder

Chaturanga de Silva Pinnaduwage Chaturanga de Silva (born 17 January 1990), or Chaturanga de Silva, is a professional Sri Lankan cricketer who plays limited over cricket. Chathuranga de Silva was educated at St. Aloysius College, Galle, where he started his cricke ...

. Their surprise picks were little-known, inexperienced Pakistani pacer

Ghulam Mudassar Ghulam Mudassar (born 24 October 1999) is a Pakistani cricketer who plays for Karachi. Hailing from a modest background in the volatile neighborhood of Lyari in Karachi, he's a left-arm fast-medium bowler who looks up to Wasim Akram and Aqib Jav ...

, averaging more than 40 with the ball and picking up a solitary wicket in the 2 matches. The team started their campaign with 4 wins in a row on their home turf.

Andre Fletcher Andre Fletcher (born 28 November 1987) is a Grenadian cricketer who plays internationally for the West Indies. He is a right-handed batsman and often keeps wicket. He played domestic cricket for Windward Islands and Grenada. He was one of the f ...

and

Upul Tharanga Warushavithana Upul Tharanga (born 2 February 1985), commonly known as Upul Tharanga ( si, උපුල් තරංග), is a former professional Sri Lankan cricketer, and a former limited over captain who played for all formats of the game. He ...

turned out to be destructive at the top. Skipper

Nasir Hossain Nasir Hossain ( bn, নাসির হোসেন; born 30 November 1991) is a Bangladeshi cricketer. He represents Rangpur Division at domestic level. He made his international debut for Bangladesh in August 2011. Asian Games Hossain was ...

bowled well so did

. The Sixers suffered a series of injuries as the tournament went on. In the end, the Sixers finished fifth on the points table.

2018–19

The Sixers decided to retain

and Pakistani all-rounder

Sohail Tanvir Sohail Tanvir ( ur, ; born 12 December 1984) is a Pakistani cricketer, who has gained considerable international repute for his unorthodox left arm bowling action and particularly for the success it has gained him in the Twenty20 format of th ...

. They signed Bangladesh National Cricket Team opener and wicket-keeper

Liton Das Litton Kumer Das ( Bengali: লিটন কুমার দাস; born 16 February 1994) is a Bangladeshi cricketer. He is a right-handed batsman and a test wicket-keeper. He made his international debut for Bangladesh in June 2015. He has scor ...

as their icon player. Outside the draft, they signed Australian batsman David Warner. They also signed English opening batsman Jason Roy,

Nepali Nepali or Nepalese may refer to : Concerning Nepal * Anything of, from, or related to Nepal * Nepali people, citizens of Nepal * Nepali language, an Indo-Aryan language found in Nepal, the current official national language and a language spoken ...

leg-spinner

Sandeep Lamichhane Sandeep Lamichhane ( ne, सन्दीप लामिछाने, ; born 2 August 2000) is a Nepalese cricketer who captained the Nepalese national team, A right-arm leg spin bowler, Lamichhane has played for Twenty20 franchise sides acro ...

, South African

Imran Tahir Mohammad Imran Tahir ( pa, ; born 27 March 1979) is a South African former international cricketer. A spin bowler who predominantly bowls googlies and a right-handed batsman, Tahir played for South Africa in all three forms of cricket, but ...

Wayne Parnell Wayne Dillon Parnell (born 30 July 1989) is a South African professional cricketer who most recently played for Northamptonshire in English county cricket. Previously, Parnell played Test cricket, One Day International cricket and Twenty20 matc ...

and Pakistani all-rounder Mohammad Nawaz. At the draft, Sylhet signed the likes of

Taskin Ahmed Taskin Ahmed Tazim ( bn, তাসকিন আহমেদ তাজিম; born 3 April 1995) is a Bangladeshi cricketer. He is a right-arm fast bowler and a left-handed batsman. He represents Dhaka Metropolis in first-class and List A cricke ...

, Al-Amin Hossain,

Afif Hossain Afif Hossain Dhrubo ( Bengali: আফিফ হোসেন ধ্রুব; born 22 September 1999) is a Bangladeshi cricketer. In February 2018, he was named in Bangladesh's Twenty20 International (T20I) squad for their series against Sri La ...

and

from the domestic category. Their international signings from the draft included

Mohammad Irfan Mohammad Irfan (Punjabi, ur, ) (born 6 June 1982) is a Pakistani cricketer who has represented Pakistan in Test, ODI and T20 cricket. Known for his height of 7'1" (216 cm), he is the tallest player to play first-class and internationa ...

Gulbadin Naib Gulbadin Naib (; born 16 March 1991) is an Afghan cricketer. Naib plays as an all-rounder, and is a right-handed batsman who bowls right-arm fast-medium. In April 2019, the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) named Naib as the team's new One Day Int ...

to name a few.

2019–20

During the player's direct signing period, a ''Conflict of Interests'' aroused between BCB and all other franchise. Subsequently, in September 2019, BCB made some changes in rules and regulations for this season and eliminating all franchises, BCB took over the charge of the current BPL and decided to run this current tournament by the board itself and named the tournament as Bangabandhu BPL T20 2019 in order to pay homage to

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Sheikh Mujibur Rahman ( bn, শেখ মুজিবুর রহমান; 17 March 1920 – 15 August 1975), often shortened as Sheikh Mujib or Mujib and widely known as Bangabandhu (meaning ''Friend of Bengal''), was a Bengali politi ...

on his birth centenary. The team is owned and managed by BCB itself.

Squads

Kit manufacturers and sponsors

References

{{Sylhet Sixers squad Sport in Sylhet Cricket clubs established in 2015 Sports clubs in Bangladesh Bangladesh Premier League teams Cricket in Sylhet 2015 establishments in Bangladesh Organisations based in Sylhet