2012 Bangladesh Premier League

The President of Bangladesh Zillur Rahman launched the tournament during an opening ceremony held at the Sher-e-Bangla Cricket Stadium in Dhaka on 9 February 2012.^[3] The ceremony featured dancers, actors and singers and ended with fireworks and a laser lighting display.^[3]

A total of 33 matches, including the semi-finals and final, were held at two venues in Chittagong and Dhaka. The Bir Shreshtho Flight Lieutenant Matiur Rahman Cricket Stadium in Chittagong hosted eight matches, with the majority of matches, including all playoff matches and the final, being held at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Mirpur, Dhaka.^[4]

Bangladeshi group Destiny and the Boishakhi TV channel were the title sponsors of the tournament, paying Tk. 7.50 crore to earn that right.^[5] Other sponsors included the Bangladesh Tourism Board, United Airways and Islami Bank Bangladesh Ltd. Channel 9 was the main broadcaster for the tournament.^{[citation needed]} The management partner was Game On, an Indian sports company, which organised the logistics of the tournament.^[6]

Players were assigned to franchises at a player auction, held in Dhaka on 19 January 2012. Each franchise was allowed to sign 18 players, including up to eight non-Bangladeshi players. A maximum of five overseas players could have been played in each matches.^{[citation needed]}

Each franchise played ten matches in the group stage of the competition, playing twice against every other team. The top four teams qualified for the semi-final stage.^{[citation needed]}

The tournament rules stated that if a match ended with the scores tied that a super over would be used to decide the match. If more than one team ended the group stage of the competition on the same number of points the regulations said that the teams would be ranked using the criteria:

1. Higher number of wins
2. If still equal, net run rate
3. If still equal, lower bowling strike rate

During the group stage of the tournament Duronto Rajshahi won seven of their ten matches and finished top of the league table with Khulna Royal Bengals, who won six matches, finishing second. Three teams, Barisal Burners, Chittagong Kings and Dhaka Gladiators, all finished with five wins and ten points. The tournament regulations stated that if teams finished level on points and had each won the same number of matches, that net run rate would be used to decide the rankings for teams. After some confusion, Dhaka Gladiators were placed third in the group stage followed by Barisal Burners, with Chittagoing Kings eliminated from the competition.

Note: The top four teams advanced to the semi-finals.

The organisers of the tournament caused some controversy after the broadcasters awarded the final semifinal spot on air to the Barisal Burners based on their superior net run rate over the Chittagong Kings, both of which were tied on the same number of points with only one of the two to progress to the next round. The following day (27 February 2011) officials from the Bangladesh Premier League confirmed that Chittagong Kings would progress to the next round, in place of the Burners, due to a better head-to-head record. Later that day the officials retracted their initial decision and replaced the Kings with the Burners as the 4th placed team based on their superior net run rate.^[11]

• 2012 Bangladesh Premier League squads