D3 Trophy Auction: Tanjid Tops at 2 Crore Points, Mehedi-Shanto at 1.5 Crore, Which Teams Soumya and Rishad Joined

The player auction for the 'D3 Trophy', a new domestic T20 league launched by the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB), has stirred up the domestic cricket scene. In this auction, young opening batter Tanjid Hasan Tamim emerged as the most expensive player at 2 crore points, while national team captain Nazmul Hossain Shanto went for 1.6 crore and off-spin all-rounder Sheikh Mehedi Hasan for 1.5 crore points. Veteran Soumya Sarkar was bought for 75 lakh and pace bowler Mustafizur Rahman for 70 lakh points, while leg-spinner Rishad Hossain was among the cheapest names at 60 lakh points. The biggest feature of this auction is that prices were set not in rupees or taka but in 'points', making it an unusual experiment. The auction list comprised a total of 281 domestic cricketers, of whom 275 went under the hammer and 6 icon players were pre-assigned to teams. Six franchises—Acme, Fortune, Walton, Seven Rings Cement, Citizens Bank and Aces Blu Stars—took part. The league will begin next December with the T20 format, meaning that behind the name 'Domestic Three' lies a multi-format structure, with T20 first and other formats to follow. The most talked-about bid was for Tanjid Hasan Tamim, whom Fortune acquired for 2 crore points. Tanjid is young, an opener, and is counted among the national team's prospects across all three formats. His price was the highest in the auction, indicating that franchises placed the greatest value on young, multi-format top-order batters. Shanto was the second most expensive at 1.6 crore points and was also included in Fortune's squad. Sheikh Mehedi Hasan went to Aces Blu Stars for 1.5 crore points, making clear that in a market short of all-rounders his demand was higher. Interestingly, pricing in the auction appeared to be driven more by availability than by ability. Mustafizur Rahman, counted among Bangladesh's most experienced T20 bowlers, joined Seven Rings Cement for only 70 lakh points, less than Soumya Sarkar's 75 lakh. The clear reason is that Mustafizur has been granted permission to play in the Big Bash League (BBL), which means he will not be fully available for the T20 edition of the D3 Trophy. Similarly, Rishad Hossain was bought by Fortune for 60 lakh points, even though reports indicate he will not play in the T20 edition at all. In this way, franchises have bought these players as investments in future editions or brand value, not as match-winners for the current T20 season. Soumya Sarkar joined Fortune for 75 lakh points, meaning Fortune has invested at least 4.95 crore points in Tanjid, Shanto, Soumya and Rishad combined, in addition to icon player Towhid Hridoy. This clearly shows a batting-centric and top-heavy strategy, although questions remain over bowling and bench depth, since the full squad list is not yet public. The distribution of icon players is also an important step towards balance. Each of the six franchises was given one icon player—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 and Mehedi Hasan Miraz to Walton. This one-per-team distribution appears to be a deliberate mechanism for maintaining competitive balance, preventing the rise of a single super-franchise. However, there is also a point of confusion in this report. In the auction, 'Sheikh Mehedi Hasan' was bought by Aces Blu Stars for 1.5 crore points, while 'Mehedi Hasan Miraz' was named Walton's icon player. These are two different cricketers—one a T20 off-spin all-rounder and the other a Test off-spinner. Therefore, the headline's reference to 'Mehedi-Shanto at 1.5 crore' may create confusion, as it is not clear which Mehedi is meant. From a governance perspective, the most striking aspect is that BCB has granted no-objection certificates (NOCs) to Rishad Hossain and Mustafizur Rahman to play in the BBL alongside its own new T20 league. This signals that established foreign leagues currently rank above the D3 Trophy's T20 edition. This is a situation that could affect the quality and appeal of the league's first season. The December window clashes with the BBL calendar, increasing competition for both audiences and players. Economically, the biggest feature of this auction is that no monetary figures are given anywhere. Prices are in 'points', with no conversion given, nor any mention of purse size or broadcast rights. This makes it impossible to assess the league's commercial scale from this report. The design appears deliberately to prioritise cost control and parity, with pricing power resting with the board rather than the franchises. On the technical side of the players, the prices of Tanjid, Shanto and Mehedi reflect their prospects in multi-format national team careers rather than proven T20 performance data. This report gives no strike rate, average or economy rate for any player, so it is impossible to judge any price as right or wrong on performance grounds. What is clear is that youth, multi-format top-order batting and a shortage of all-rounders pushed prices up, while the availability problem pulled down the prices of Mustafizur and Rishad. From a risk perspective, the biggest threat is the absence of marquee players, which could weaken the quality of the T20 edition. Second, Fortune's top-heavy batting strategy could affect bowling depth. Third, the clash of BBL, D3 and the international calendar in the December-January window could increase the workload burden on players. Fourth, as a new league, no public framework for anti-corruption monitoring and rules has been stated, which is a matter of concern. Fifth, ambiguity over player identification in official communications (Mehedi Hasan versus Mehedi Hasan Miraz) could create confusion in the future. Overall, this auction of the D3 Trophy presents a picture of a league focused on parity, cost control and identifying domestic talent, but whose biggest challenges are the calendar clash and the absence of marquee players. Tanjid topping the list at 2 crore points shows investment in the future, while the low prices of Mustafizur and Rishad show that current availability is the biggest determinant of the market. It remains to be seen how much strength this experiment gives Bangladesh's domestic T20 structure and whether it can build a lasting identity alongside the BPL.