The Bangladesh Premier League 2023 started on January 6 with Sylhet Strikers’ beating Chattogram Challengers by eight wickets.
Defending champions Comilla Victorians, however, endured an underwhelming start to their title defence in BPL 2023 and succumbed to a 34-run defeat to Rangpur Royals in the second match of the opening day.
A total of seven teams, namely Chattogram Challengers, Sylhet Strikers, Comilla Victorians, Rangpur Riders, Minister Group Dhaka, Fortune Barishal and Khulna Tigers, are battling it out to win the ninth edition of the T20 cricket tournament.
In all, 46 matches - 42 league stage matches, three playoff fixtures and a final on February 16 - will be played throughout the competition.
Mustafizur Rahman and Litton Das (Comilla Victorians), Taskin Ahmed (Dhaka Dominators) and Shakib Al Hasan (Fortune Barishal) are some of the top Bangladeshi stars who will be seen plying their trade in the tournament.
A host of renowned foreign cricket stars, including Haris Rauf and Sikandar Raza (Rangpur Riders), Curtis Campher and Unmukt Chand (Chattogram Challengers), Dasun Shanaka (Khulna Tigers) and Dhananjaya de Silva (Sylhet Strikers), will also be on show.
Talking about the partcipating teams' performances, Sylhet Strikers, Fortune Barishal, Comilla Victorians and Rangpur Riders dominated the majority of the season.
Following Rangpur Riders' two-wicket win over Dhaka Dominators on February 3, all the four teams for the Bangladesh Premier League 2023 playoffs were confirmed with eight matches of the league phase remaining.
Sylhet Strikers are leading the BPL 2023 points table after the 40th match of the campaign.
Bangladesh Premier League points table format
The BPL 2023 will follow a double round-robin format during the league phase.
Each team will get two points for a win and one for a tie. If two or more teams are tied on points, the Net Run Rate (NRR) will come into play with the side having a superior NRR getting positioned higher.
At the end of the 42 league matches, the top four franchises will make the playoffs.
Courtesy of BPL following a page playoff system for knockouts, the first and second-ranked teams will play Qualifier 1 with the winner advancing directly to the final.
The third and fourth-ranked teams will lock horns in the Eliminator.
Qualifier 2 will see the winner of the Eliminator take on the losing side from Qualifier 1 for a berth in the final.
BPL 2023 points table
| Position | Team | Played | Won | Lost | No result | Points | NRR |
| 1 | Sylhet Strikers (Q) | 12 | 9 | 3 | 0 | 18 | +0.737 |
| 2 | Comilla Victorians (Q) | 12 | 9 | 3 | 0 | 18 | +0.723 |
| 3 | Rangpur Riders (Q) | 12 | 8 | 4 | 0 | 16 | +0.165 |
| 4 | Fortune Barishal (Q) | 12 | 7 | 5 | 0 | 14 | +0.542 |
| 5 | Khulna Tigers | 12 | 3 | 9 | 0 | 6 | -0.534 |
| 6 | Dhaka Dominators | 12 | 3 | 9 | 0 | 6 | -0.776 |
| 7 | Chattogram Challengers | 12 | 3 | 9 | 0 | 6 | -0.872 |
Photo credit: Alamy
