D3 Trophy Auction: Tanjid Tops at 2 Crore, Shanto-Mehedi at 1.5 Crore, Soumya-Rishad's Teams Confirmed

The player auction for the D3 Trophy, the Bangladesh Cricket Board's (BCB) new domestic T20 league, has stirred up the domestic cricket scene. In this unusual points-based auction, a total of 281 domestic cricketers were listed, of whom 275 went under the hammer while 6 were assigned directly to teams as icon players. Across six franchises—Acme, Fortune, Walton, Seven Rings Cement, Citizens Bank and Aces Blu Stars—young opener Tanjid Hasan Tamim emerged as the most expensive player of the entire auction at 2 crore points. The biggest story of the auction was that availability, rather than ability, was driving prices this time. Mustafizur Rahman, regarded as one of Bangladesh's most experienced T20 bowlers, was bought by Seven Rings Cement for only 70 lakh points—below Soumya Sarkar's 75 lakh and less than half of Nazmul Hossain Shanto's 1.6 crore. The reason is clear: Mustafizur has been granted permission to play the Big Bash League (BBL), which means he will not be fully available for the T20 edition of the D3 Trophy. Similarly, leg-spinner Rishad Hossain, who will not play the T20 edition at all, joined Fortune for 60 lakh points. The auction thus showed a clear pattern: the less available the player, the lower the price. By bidding the highest 2 crore points for Tanjid Hasan Tamim, Fortune made its intentions clear. Young age, the ability to open in all formats, and a growing role in the national team—these three factors made Tanjid the most expensive player in the auction. Fortune also added Nazmul Hossain Shanto for 1.6 crore points, while Sheikh Mehedi Hasan went to Aces Blu Stars for 1.5 crore points. Notably, Mehedi is an off-spin all-rounder, and the scarcity of such players in domestic T20 cricket made his price the third-highest. A veteran like Mushfiqur Rahim was placed in the icon category, sparing him competitive bidding and giving him a protected leadership and brand role. Fortune's strategy looked the most aggressive. On just four named players—Tanjid (2 crore), Shanto (1.6 crore), Soumya Sarkar (75 lakh) and Rishad Hossain (60 lakh)—they spent a total of 4.95 crore points, and they also received Towhid Hridoy as an icon. This amount is believed to be a large share of the team's total purse, although the official per-franchise purse cap has not been disclosed. It is clear that Fortune invested heavily in batting, while in Rishad they bought a player who will not feature in the T20 edition at all—meaning their bowling and spin depth looks strong only on paper. In terms of team balance, the BCB's icon policy distributed six big names one each across six franchises—Nurul Hasan Sohan to Aces Blu Stars, Towhid Hridoy to Fortune, Mosaddek Hossain Saikat to Acme, Mohammad Naim Sheikh to Citizens Bank, Mushfiqur Rahim to Seven Rings Cement and Mehedi Hasan Miraz to Walton. This distribution is a deliberate competitive-balance measure to prevent any single super-franchise from emerging. The rule resembles the IPL's marquee-retention system. The most unusual aspect of the auction is its currency—bidding was not in rupees or taka but in 'points'. The article explicitly notes that in a conventional auction 'the team with more money has more scope to pick players', whereas this points system somewhat reduces that inequality. However, no formula for converting points into taka, no purse limit and no broadcast-rights figures are available—so calling something 'the most expensive' in this auction is an internal ranking, not a market value. The biggest challenge for the league's calendar is that the T20 edition of the D3 Trophy will begin in December, exactly when the Big Bash League is played. By granting Rishad and Mustafizur No Objection Certificates (NOCs) for the BBL, the BCB has clearly signalled that established foreign leagues currently take priority over the new domestic league. This could set a precedent for Bangladesh's top T20 players, and if so, the D3 Trophy will be seen as a second-tier product in its very first year. From a governance perspective, five categories were mentioned in the auction but their definitions were not given. As a brand-new league, there is no mention of any anti-corruption monitoring mechanism, which is a serious monitoring gap—not an accusation, but a point to track. Care is also needed over player identification: 'Sheikh Mehedi Hasan' (the off-spin all-rounder) and 'Mehedi Hasan Miraz' (the Test off-spinner) are two different cricketers, and the use of 'Mehedi' in the headline can cause confusion. Overall, this D3 Trophy auction is a big step towards commercialising domestic cricket, but so far it is only a single auction data point. To determine which team's squad is strongest, no match has yet been played. What is clear is that in this auction, availability, age and all-rounder scarcity shaped prices more than cricketing skill.