The first edition of the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) is scheduled to begin on February 9. The 20-day tournament will feature six teams with each team playing ten games each. The teams are allowed to play five foreign players each.

Several West Indies players were bought by the six franchises, with Chris Gayle heading the list, bought by Barisal for $551,000. The other players are: Marlon Samuels, Kieron Pollard, Dwayne Bravo, Lendi Simmons, Kevon Cooper, Andre Russell, Dwayne Smith, Fidel Edwards, Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Jerome Taylor.

Darren Sammy, the West Indies and Windward Islands captain, was bought by Sylhet Royals for $55,000, but has opted out so that he can play in the WICB Regional 4-Day Tournament and also prepare for the upcoming home series against Australia in March.

According to a media report a few foreign Associate players were also auctioned -- Niall O’Brien of Ireland , Alexel Kervezee of the Netherlands, Afghan pacer Hamid Hassan and Canadian allrounder and Vice-Captain Rizwan Cheema.