The Dhaka Capitals is a professional franchise cricket team that plays in the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL). They represent Dhaka Division. The team plays their home matches at the SBNCS. Dhaka is the one of the most successful BPL franchise, having won three BPL titles in the BPL, it has appeared in 5 finals and qualified for the playoff stages 7 times, the most amongst the BPL teams. The team competes in the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) and was one of the six franchises incorporated when the league was established in 2012.
The team was originally established in 2012 for the inaugural BPL season as the Dhaka Gladiators, and won both the 2012 and 2013 editions of the tournament. The Gladiators were one of the teams dissolved in 2013 after the second edition. The franchise was sold to BEXIMCO Group and rebranded as Dhaka Dynamites.
For the 2015 edition of the BPL, the team were coached by former South African cricketer Mickey Arthur, and captained by Kumar Sangakkara.[1] Bangladeshi player Nasir Hossain was selected as the "icon" player of the team.[2]
In September 2022, Pragati Green Auto Rice Mills acquired the ownership rights of the team. However, they later lost ownership as they could not meet the financial requirements. In November 2022, Rupa Fabrics Limited acquired the ownership rights of the Dhaka team, which was rebranded as Dhaka Dominators.[5]
After the success of the Non-cooperation movement, there was a wind of changes in cricket franchises of Bangladesh as well. Champions Sports Ltd. acquired the ownership rights of the team, partnering with Shakib Khan's Remark HB Ltd.[7] The team was renamed as Dhaka Capitals ahead of the 2025 Bangladesh Premier League.[8]
History
2010: Beginning
Six teams competed in the first edition of NCL Twenty20 tournament. Each team represented the six administrative divisions of Bangladesh. Six companies bid to buy a team in the tournament. Beximco Group was bid for Dhaka and bought Dhaka Division. Then it was named by Dhaka Dynamites. The companies went into a lottery in which they were to pick one of six "iconic" players from Bangladesh. Mohammad Ashraful was named icon player and captained for Dhaka. Jeewan Mendis and Imran Nazir came to play for the team. Dhaka built a strong team with a mix of experienced and young players and participated in the tournament as a title contender. Rising star Mahmudullah Riyad and experienced players Mohammad Ashraful and Rafique were key players for Dhaka. Dhaka won 5 out of 5 matches in the group stage and advanced to the semi-finals with full points as the league champion. However, they lost to Rajshahi in the semi-finals. And that was Dhaka's only defeat in the entire tournament.[citation needed]
Supporters
The team has a significant fan following, colloquially referred to as the "Dhakaiya". The team has the second highest number of followers in the social media amongst the BPL teams. The home matches of the team register significant attendance with the fans often turning up to watch the team's practice sessions at Dhaka.[citation needed]
Home ground
Dhaka play their home matches at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium (also known as "SBNCS") in Dhaka, which is one of the largest and iconic cricket stadiums in Bangladesh. The stadium has a seating capacity of 25,000 peoples. The stadium is often referred to as "Tigers' den".[citation needed]
The Dhaka–Comilla rivalry was a cricket rivalry between two franchises, Dhaka Dynamites and Comilla Victorians in the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL), known as the BPL Clásico. They are the two most successful teams in BPL winning a combined 7 titles out of the 10 BPL seasons. Dhaka and Comilla have historically engaged in some of the most iconic clashes in the BPL. It is considered to be the biggest and iconic match in Bangladeshi domestic cricket. Dhaka Capitals and Comilla Victorians produced some intense nail bitting clash. The rivalry started in the era of Dhaka Dynamites in 2015 BPL. Many legendary cricketers have played for both teams. some notable players are Shakib Al Hasan, Tamim Iqbal, Mashrafe Bin Mortaza, Andre Russell, Kieron Pollard, Shahid Afridi, Sunil Narine, Shoaib Malik, Mohammad Nabi etc.[citation needed]
Dhaka Franchise was formed in 2009 as one of the participating teams in the National Cricket League Twenty20. The ownership of the team was acquired by Ahmed Shayan Fazlur Rahman's Beximco Group. The league was later replaced with Bangladesh Premier League, with the ownership of the franchise being awarded to Europa Group under the name of Dhaka Gladiators for US$5.05 million. After multiple corruption charges against the owners, the team was re-acquired by Beximco Group in 2015. Later in 2019, Jamuna Bank acquired the team. Afterwards, the team was acquired by Minister Group, Rupa Fabrics Ltd. and Newtex Group respectively each in three years, after 2022. As of now, the current ownership of the team is acquired by Champions Sports Ltd. and partnered with Remark-Herlan Group, of which Shakib Khan, a famous actor, is a director.[citation needed]
In the first two seasons, Mashrafe Bin Mortaza captained the team and Ian Pont was the head coach. Dhaka Gladiators started off their campaign disappointingly by losing against an experienced Khulna Royal Bengals which was led by all rounder Shakib Al Hasan. However this was succeeded by three consecutive wins even without players like Shahid Afridi and Saeed Ajmal. During their third victory against Barisal Burners, they made the highest total of the tournament by scoring 208 runs for five wickets. They defended this score, even though Chris Gayle scored a century for the Barisal Burners. Later in the tournament, they failed to chase mediocre targets due to batting collapses. In the final, Dhaka Gladiators beat the Barisal Burners to be crowned champions of BPL 2012.
For the 2012/13 season, Dhaka Gladiators bought all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan who was the most expensive player and the captain in the tournament. They bought fast bowler Mashrafe Mortaza, the emerging wicket keeper Anamul Haque and more. They also bought South African pace bowler Alfonso Thomas, and West IndiansKieron Pollard and Chris Gayle who were only available for one game. They bought English players Luke Wright, Owais Shah, Darren Stevens, bowler Chris Liddle and batsman Josh Cobb. This team of players were crowned 2013 champions, just as they had been in 2012. They played 14 games, won 11 and lost only 3. This time their strongest opponent was Sylhet Royals.
Dhaka Dynamites was introduced in a new look in 2015. During the player draft, Kumar Sangakkara was selected as the captain while Nasir Hossain was picked as the "icon" player. A total of eighteen players was selected in the draft process. The notable players in and out of the draft they purchased were, Mustafizur Rahman, Yasir Shah, Mohammad Hafeez and Ryan ten Doeschate and Mohammad Irfan
They started off rather smoothly by defeating their arch rival Comilla Victorians and Chittagong Vikings but lost their way through defeats against Rangpur Riders and Barisal Bulls. Luckily, they finished at 4th place out of 6 teams but lost against the Bulls in the eliminator
They got the second pick in the local and overseas pick in the draft, choosing pacer Abu Hider and English batsman Joe Denly respectively. Their surprise picks were pacers Khaled Ahmed, Mohammad Saddam, batsman Shadman Islam and little-known West Indian orthodox spinner Akeal Hosein.
Dhaka Dynamites had a shaky start with a surprise defeat to Sylhet Sixers. However, the team soon bounced back and finished 2nd in the league stage. They crushed their biggest rival Comilla Victorians in Qualifier-1, hence advancing to the final. They didn't manage the defend the title as they suffered a heave defeat to Rangpur Riders in the final who were eventually crowned the champions, securing their maiden trophy.
All the franchises were given until 30 September 2018 to submit their 4 retained cricketers. Dhaka Dynamites retained Shakib Al Hasan, Kieron Pollard, Sunil Narine and Rovman Powell. All Franchises were also allowed to buy 2 foreign players pre-draft but they can't be the ones who played for the team last season. Dhaka Dynamites bought Afghan hard-hitter Hazratullah Zazai and Caribbean all-rounder Andre Russell.
In the draft, Dhaka's first pick was local fast bowler Rubel Hossain. They signed South African bowler Andrew Birch and English batsman Ian Bell as their overseas players in draft. They ended up signing 10 local players in the draft.
In the tournament Dhaka had a flying start winning five matches out of their first six matches. But they suddenly lost their momentum and suffered five consecutive defeats and eventually pipped Rajshahi Kings out of top four by winning their last group match and qualified for Eliminator. In the Eliminator they defeated Chittagong Vikings and defeated Rangpur Riders in the Qualifier 2 to seal their place in the Final. In the final Comilla Victorians set a target of 200 for Dhaka, but they fell short by 17 runs in their chase and Comilla won the tournament for the second time.
Shakib Al Hasan was the highest wicket taker of the season and won the Player of the Tournament for his all-round performances.
The franchise had signed English ODI captain Eoin Morgan who is the winning captain of ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 and South African explosive batsman David Miller as their two direct signings.[9][10]
However, during the player's direct signing period, a conflict of interest arose between BCB and all other franchises. Subsequently, in September 2019, BCB made some changes in the rules and regulations for the season. Eliminating all franchises, BCB took over charge of the current BPL and decided to run the tournament by the itself, renaming the tournament as the Bangabandhu BPL T20 2019 in order to pay homage to Sheikh Mujibur Rahman on his birth centenary.[11] Jamuna Bank acquired the team's sponsorship rights.[12] The team was renamed for as Dhaka Platoon and signed the likes of Tamim Iqbal, Mashrafe Mortaza, Shahid Afridi, Thisara Perera and Wahab Riaz.
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