# 2016 Rangpur Riders season

The Rangpur Riders are a franchise cricket team based in Rangpur, Bangladesh, which plays in the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL). They were one of seven teams that competed in the 2016 Bangladesh Premier League. The team was being captained by Naeem Islam.
Prior to the 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.

## Player draft

The 2016 BPL draft was held on 30 September. Prior to the draft, the seven clubs signed 38 foreign players to contracts and each existing franchise was able to retain two home-grown players from the 2015 season. A total 301 players participated in the draft, including 133 local and 168 foreign players. 85 players were selected in the draft.

### Player transfers

Prior to the 2016 draft, a number of high-profile players moved teams. These included transfers between competing teams and due to the suspension of the signing of Shahid Afridi as team captain of Rangpur Riders from the Sylhet Super Stars and Shakib Al Hasan as team captain of Dhaka Dynamites from Rangpur Riders.

## Points table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | NR | Pts | NRR |
| 1 | Dhaka Dynamites (C) | 12 | 8 | 4 | 0 | 16 | 0.912 |
| 2 | Khulna Titans (3) | 12 | 7 | 5 | 0 | 14 | −0.215 |
| 3 | Chittagong Vikings (4) | 12 | 6 | 6 | 0 | 12 | 0.233 |
| 4 | Rajshahi Kings (R) | 12 | 6 | 6 | 0 | 12 | 0.208 |
| 5 | Rangpur Riders | 12 | 6 | 6 | 0 | 12 | −0.106 |
| 6 | Comilla Victorians | 12 | 5 | 7 | 0 | 10 | −0.345 |
| 7 | Barisal Bulls | 12 | 4 | 8 | 0 | 8 | −0.688 |
* The top four teams qualified for playoffs
* advanced to the Qualifier
* advanced to the Eliminator

## Squad

| Name | Nationality | Batting style | Bowling style | Year signed | Notes |
| Batsmen ||||||
| Soumya Sarkar | Bangladesh | Left-handed | Right arm medium-fast | 2015 | |
| Sharjeel Khan | Pakistan | Left-handed | Right-arm leg spin | 2016 | |
| Babar Azam | Pakistan | Right-handed | Right-arm off break | 2016 | |
| Pinak Ghosh | Bangladesh | Left-handed | – | 2016 | |
| Gidron Pope | West Indies | Left-handed | Right-arm off-spin | 2016 | |
| Gihan Rupasinghe | Sri Lanka | Left-handed | Right-arm leg break | 2016 | |
| All-rounders ||||||
| Shahid Afridi | Pakistan | Right-handed | Right-arm leg break | 2016 | |
| Anwar Ali | Pakistan | Right-hand | Right-arm fast medium | 2016 | |
| Dasun Shanaka | Sri Lanka | Right-handed | Right-arm medium | 2016 | |
| Ziaur Rahman | Bangladesh | Left-handed | Right-arm medium | 2016 | |
| Naeem Islam | Bangladesh | Right-handed | Right-arm off break | 2016 | Captain |
| Sohag Gazi | Bangladesh | Right-handed | Right-arm off break | 2016 | |
| Muktar Ali | Bangladesh | Right-handed | Right arm medium-fast | 2015 | |
| Liam Dawson | England | Right-handed | Slow Left-arm orthodox | 2016 | |
| Shane Watson | Australia | Right-handed | Right-arm fast medium | 2016 | |
| Wicket-keepers ||||||
| Mithun Ali | Bangladesh | Right-handed | – | 2015 | Opener |
| Mohammad Shehzad | Afghanistan | Right-handed | – | 2016 | Opener |
| Bowlers ||||||
| Sachithra Senanayake | Sri Lanka | Right-handed | Right arm off spin | 2015 | |
| Rubel Hossain | Bangladesh | Right-handed | Right-arm fast | 2016 | |
| Arafat Sunny | Bangladesh | Left-handed | Slow Left-arm orthodox | 2015 | |
| Elias Sunny | Bangladesh | Left-handed | Slow Left-arm orthodox | 2015 | |
| Mehrab Hossain | Bangladesh | Right-handed bat | Right-arm medium | 2016 | |
| Shahbaz Chouhan | Bangladesh | Right-handed | Slow Left-arm orthodox | 2016 | |
| Richard Gleeson | England | Right-handed | Right-arm fast-medium | 2016 | |