Gemcon Khulna picked two category A players – Shakib Al Hasan, Mahmudullah – while Minister Group Rajshahi didn’t pick any player from the top category in the players’ draft for the Bangabandhu Twenty20 Cup at a city hotel on Thursday.

Khulna picked the returning Shakib as its first choice and picked Mahmudullah, the current Twenty20 skipper of Bangladesh, in its second call after Rajshahi opted to take category B all-rounder Mohammad Saifuddin as its opening pick.

Bangladesh wicketkeeper-batsman Mushfiqur Rahim was the overall first pick in the draft, as Beximco Dhaka took him onboard after getting the first pick in the draft through a lottery.

Dhaka preferred Mushfiq over Shakib because of the batsman’s current form, said Bangladesh Cricket Board director Khaled Mahmud, who is also involved with the Dhaka side.

‘Mushfiq is in form. He is highly dedicated. He wants to win every time. Therefore our management chose Mushfiq,’ said Mahmud.

The remaining two category A player’s – Bangladesh’s one-day international skipper Tamim Iqbal and pacer Mustafizur Rahman – were the first choice picks of Fortune Barishal and Gazi Group Chattogram respectively.

Khulna were the highest spender in the draft, spending Tk one crore and 14 lakhs, with Shakib and Mahmudullah costing them Tk 15 lakhs each.

Khulna, however, are unlikely to get both of their services from the beginning of the tournament, which is supposed to begin from the third week of November, as Mahmudullah is yet to recover from COVID-19.

Barishal is also likely to miss their top-pick Tamim for the early phase of the tournament as he is currently in Karachi to play in the knock-out stage of the Pakistan Premier League.

Barishal have a bowling heavy squad with Taskin Ahmed, Abu Jayed, Mehedi Hasan, Aminul Islam Biplob and Kamrul Islam and also picked Irfan Sukkur and Towhid Hridoy, who had impressed with the bat in October’s BCB President’s Cup.

Rajshahi, rather than building their squad around marquee players, opted for regular performers in the country’s domestic scene like Farhad Reza, Nurul Hasan, Mahedi Hasan and also picked Mohammad Ashraful.

Chattogram picked several national team regulars like Liton Das, Soumya Sarkar, Taijul Islam and also picked Bangladesh Test skipper Mominul Haque, who and his wife were tested positive for coronavirus on Tuesday.

Each team filled their quota of 16 players from a list of 157 cricketers.