Mashrafe Mortaza, Tamim Iqbal, Shahid Afridi make Dhaka Platoons the team to beat

Coached by former England fast bowler Kabir Ali, Chattogram have gone batting-heavy with the likes of Chris Gayle, Mahmudullah, Avishka Fernando and Nasir Hossain in the mix. The bowling stocks are led by Rubel Hossain, the joint-highest wicket-taker last BPL, and West Indian Kesrick Williams, who has carved a name for himself in the CPL. While they don't have a local leggie, they have made up for that void by picking Ryan Burl from Zimbabwe. With two slots still remaining, they will ideally want to fill the local legspinner's slot, BCB's mandate for the tournament in their bid to give young wristspinners some much-needed exposure.

Managed and owned by the BCB, Cumilla have assembled a decent batting unit that will bank on Dawid Malan, who is coming off a superb T20I century in New Zealand, and Kusal Perera. Among the home-grown players, the expectations will be high on Soumya Sarkar and Sabbir Rahman as Bangladesh look to build towards next year's T20 World Cup. However, it's strange that they don't have a genuine fast bowler even though the board has insisted on the need to have one compulsory "quick local bowler" in the XI.

Among the rookie batsmen are Yasir Ali, Fardeen Hasan and Mahidul Islam, all of whom could get opportunities at some stage. Like Chattogram, Cumilla too are on the lookout for a genuine leggie and an out-and-out fast bowler. Al-Amin Hossain and Abu Hider are their promising local fast bowlers, with Afghanistan's Mujeeb Ur Rahman leading the spin charge.

Perhaps the most balanced side, Dhaka have punted on the partnership between Tamim Iqbal and his mentor Mohammad Salauddin. Their strong batting line-up includes Anamul Haque, Ariful Haque and Mominul Haque, with Thisara Perera and Shahid Afridi providing all-round depth. Wahab Riaz offers pace and intensity, while Mashrafe Mortaza, surprisingly picked only in the fourth round of the draft, offers control.

Khulna Tigers
Two of BPL's stars from 2018-19 - Rilee Rossouw and Robbie Frylinck - come together along with Mushfiqur Rahim to give Khulna a formidable look. The side also has the Afghanistan batting duo of Najibullah Zadran and Rahmatullah Gurbaz, who played a starring role in their series win over West Indies in Lucknow earlier this week. Mohammad Amir leads the pace attack, while legspinner Aminul Islam, who had a decent maiden tour of India, will form a spin combine with Mehidy Hasan.

Rajshahi Royals
New coach Owais Shah will need mighty contributions from his players to take them to the playoffs. They have complied with the BCB's fast bowler and legspinner requirements by picking legspinner Minhajul Abedin Afridi and Pakistan's Mohammad Irfan, while the likes of Abu Jayed and Kamrul Islam Rabbi will have to provide support. Liton Das, Afif Hossain and Irfan Sukkur are their local batsmen, while Ravi Bopara and Hazratullah Zazai are their main foreign recruits.

Coach Grant Flower will need to add a batsman or two to his roster to the BPL-owned team. While they don't have serial T20 match-winners, Shai Hope, Mohammad Nabi, Cameron Delport and Mohammad Naim are decent picks. The legspinner's quota is taken by young Rishad Hossain, who impressed Sunil Joshi during his time as Bangladesh's spin coach. However, his participation is subject to his Under-19 commitments. Mustafizur Rahman and Taskin Ahmed will lead the pace attack.

They don't have a head coach yet, and are likely to sign Herschelle Gibbs. That isn't the only signing left to do. Apart from their batting picks in Sherfane Rutherford and Johnson Charles, they will need one more overseas batting star. Mohammad Mithun and Mosaddek Hossain will lead the local batting charge.

Light on fast bowling, Sylhet may have to bring in more back-up for domestic stalwart Delwar Hossain, Afghanistan's Naveen-ul-Haq and domestic newcomer Ruyel Miah. But they should be happy with their spin bowling stocks that includes left-arm spinner Nazmul Islam, offspinners Sohag Gazi and Nayeem Hasan, and the legspinning allrounder Jeevan Mendis.