# Sylhet Strikers

Sylhet Strikers (Bengali: সিলেট স্ট্রাইকার্স) is a professional cricket franchise team based in Sylhet, Bangladesh. The team competes in the Bangladesh Premier League. The franchise made its debut at the 2012 Bangladesh Premier League.
The team was owned by Sylhet Sports Limited in the care of Bangladesh's former Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith. His son, Shahed Muhith is the chairman of the team. The Sixers announced Waqar Younis as head coach and International Cricketer, David Warner as captain for the sixth edition of the Bangladesh Premier League. Former Bangladesh National Cricket Team all-rounder Alok Kapali 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 team was rebranded as Sylhet Sunrisers after changing owners ahead of the 2021–22 Bangladesh Premier League.
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 the 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 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, and 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

The Sylhet Franchise returned to BPL under the Sylhet Sixers banner. The team's icon player was Sabbir Rahman and was captained by all-rounder Nasir Hossain. They lured wicket-keeper Nurul Hasan and orthodox spinner and Taijul Islam as pre-draft signings. Their foreign player signings included Krishmar Santokie, Babar Azam, Liam Plunkett, Andre Fletcher, Upul Tharanga, Ross Whitely and more.
At the draft, pacer Abul Hasan was their first pick. Their first foreign pick was Lankan all-rounder Chaturanga de Silva. Their surprise picks were little-known, inexperienced Pakistani pacer Ghulam Mudassar, 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 and Upul Tharanga turned out to be destructive at the top. Skipper Nasir Hossain bowled well, as did Liam Plunkett. The Sixers suffered a series of injuries as the tournament went on. In the end, the Sixers finished fifth on the points table.

### 2019

The Sixers decided to retain Sabbir Rahman, Nasir Hossain and Pakistani all-rounder Sohail Tanvir. They signed Bangladesh National Cricket Team opener and wicket-keeper Liton Das as their icon player. Outside the draft, they signed Australian batsman David Warner. They also signed English opening batsman Jason Roy, Nepali leg-spinner Sandeep Lamichhane, South African Imran Tahir, Wayne Parnell and Pakistani all-rounder Mohammad Nawaz.
At the draft, Sylhet signed the likes of Taskin Ahmed, Al-Amin Hossain, Afif Hossain and Alok Kapali from the domestic category. Their international signings from the draft included Nicholas Pooran, Mohammad Irfan, Andre Fletcher, and Gulbadin Naib to name a few.

### 2019–20

During the player's direct signing period, a conflict of interest arose between BCB and all other franchises. Subsequently, in September 2019, BCB made some changes in rules and regulations for this season and eliminated 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 Bangabandhu BPL T20 2019 in order to pay homage to Sheikh Mujibur Rahman on his birth centenary. The team is owned and managed by BCB itself.

### 2024

The Sylhet Strikers opened their campaign against Chattogram Challengers. The game was played on 19 January which ended in, Sylhet Strikers getting defeated by Chattogram Challengers by 7 wickets to lose their opening match. Sylhet has played 10 matches in BPL 24, won 3 and lost 7 matches.
Overseas Players include Kennar Lewis, Samit Patel, Harry Tector, Benny Howell and Ryan Burl.

### 2025

The 2025 season was quite lacklustre and underwhelming for the Sylhet franchise. They made an early exit from the tournament and finished at the bottom of the table. The team was able to recruit local talents such as Jaker Ali, Rony Talukder and Zakir Hasan and had retained Tanzim Hasan Sakib before the draft. Ariful Haque was made the captain of the team.
Notable foreign signings include Rahkeem Cornwall, George Munsey, Paul Stirling, Reece Topley and Aaron Jones.

## Squad

| Name | Nationality | Batting style | Bowling style | Notes |
| Batters |||||
| George Munsey | Scotland | Left-handed | Right-arm medium-fast | Overseas player |
| Aaron Jones | United States | Right-handed | Right-arm leg break | Overseas player |
| Zawad Abrar | Bangladesh | Right-handed | Right-arm off break | |
| Wicket-keepers |||||
| Rony Talukder | Bangladesh | Right-handed | – |
| Zakir Hasan | Bangladesh | Left-handed | – | |
| Jaker Ali | Bangladesh | Right-handed | – | |
| All-rounders |||||
| Paul Stirling | Ireland | Right-handed | Right-arm off-break | Overseas player |
| Rahkeem Cornwall | West Indies | Right-handed | Right-arm off-break | Overseas player |
| Nahidul Islam | Bangladesh | Right-handed | Right-arm off-break | |
| Kadeem Alleyne | West Indies | Right-handed | Right-arm medium | Overseas player |
| Ahsan Hafeez | Pakistan | Left-handed | Slow left-arm orthodox | Overseas player |
| Tipu Sultan | Bangladesh | Left-handed | Slow left-arm orthodox | |
| Samiullah Shinwari | Afghanistan | Right-handed | Right-arm leg-break | Overseas player |
| Ariful Haque | Bangladesh | Right-handed | Right-arm fast medium | Captain |
| Pace bowlers |||||
| Tanzim Hasan Sakib | Bangladesh | Right-handed | Right-arm fast medium | |
| Reece Topley | England | Right-handed | Left-arm fast medium | Overseas player |
| Al-Amin Hossain | Bangladesh | Right-handed | Right-arm fast medium | |
| Sumon Khan | Bangladesh | Left-handed | Right-arm fast medium | |
| Ruyel Miah | Bangladesh | Left-handed | Left-arm fast medium | |
| Spin bowlers |||||
| Nihaduzzaman | Bangladesh | Right-handed | Slow left-arm orthodox | |
| Jon-Russ Jaggesar | West Indies | Right-handed | Right-arm off-break | Overseas player |
| Mehedi Hasan Sohag | Bangladesh | Right-handed | Right-arm leg break | |

## Seasons
### Bangladesh Premier League

| Year | League standing | Final standing |
| 2012 | 6th out of 6 | League stage |
| 2013 | 2nd out of 7 | Playoffs |
| 2015 | 5th out of 6 | League stage |
| 2016 | Did not participate | Did not participate |
| 2017 | 5th out of 7 | League stage |
| 2018-19 | 6th out of 7 | League stage |
| 2019–20 | 7th out of 7 | League stage |
| 2022 | 6th out of 6 | League stage |
| 2023 | 1st out of 7 | Runners-up |
| 2024 | 6th out of 7 | League stage |