The sixth edition of Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) has rolled on to the pitch with defending champion Rangpur Riders facing Chittagong Vikings in the tournament opener.

The match started at 12:30pm Saturday (Jan 5) at Mirpur’s Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in the capital.

In the day's second match Dhaka Dynamites will face Rajshahi Kings at 5:20pm.

Rest of the seven participant teams in this year’s BPL are Khulna Titans, Comilla Victorians, and Sylhet Sixers.

Like the previous year, matches will be played on three venues across the country. Sylhet International Cricket Stadium (SICS), Sylhet is the latest venue after SBNCS and Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium (ZACS) of Chattogram.

Private satellite channel Gazi TV (GTV) and Maasranga Television are the two official broadcast partners from Bangladesh for this year’s BPL. Rabbithole app will also provide live streaming for both Android and iOS users.

Some of the famous superstars around the world want to play this year’s BPL competition for the first time.

Among them, Ex-South African batsman AB de Villiers was signed by Rangpur Riders. Rangpur also signed England batsman Alex Hales. Comilla Victorians have roped in another Aussie batsman Steve Smith. Sylhet Sixers brought in Australia opener David Warner and appointed him as the captain of the side. Sylhet also signed spinner Sandeep Lamichhane who will be the first ever from Nepal to play in the BPL.

Each team can field maximum of four foreign players in the playing 11 in this year.

Every match-day will feature two matches with the first match starting from 12:30 pm and the second match will begin from 5:20 pm. Matches which will be held on Friday will have different match time as the first one will kick off from 2 pm and the second match will start from 7:20 pm.

The 35-day tournament will end on February 8 following the final at SBNCS.