 | ||
| Nickname(s) | Yellow Army | |
|---|---|---|
| League | Bangladesh Premier League | |
| Personnel | ||
| Captain | Taskin Ahmed (2024–25) | |
| Coach | Ijaz Ahmed (2024–25) | |
| Owner | Valentine Group (2024–25) | |
| Manager | Mehrab Hossain (2024–25) | |
| Team information | ||
| City | Rajshahi, Bangladesh | |
| Colors | Yellow, Orange | |
| Founded | 2012 (as Duronto Rajshahi) 2016 (as Rajshahi Kings) 2019 (as Rajshahi Royals) 2024 (as Durbar Rajshahi) | |
| Home ground | Shaheed Qamaruzzaman Stadium | |
| History | ||
| Bangladesh Premier League wins | 1 (2020) | |
| Official website | durbar-rajshahi | |
| ||
 2025 Bangladesh Premier League | ||
Durbar Rajshahi (Bengali:দুর্বার রাজশাহী) is a Bangladeshi franchiseTwenty20cricket team. The team is based inRajshahi in Bangladesh and competes in theBangladesh Premier League (BPL), a Twenty20 franchise cricket competition.[1]
The team is currently owned by theValentine Group for the2025 Bangladesh Premier League.[2]
Duronto Rajshahi participated in the first two seasons of theBangladesh Premier League in2012 and2013.[3]
Following the suspension of all BPL franchises after the second season of the league, theRajshahi Kings were formed in advance of the2016 Bangladesh Premier League following a complete change in the team ownership and management. They competed in thefourth edition of the BPL in late 2016, losing in the final to theDhaka Dynamites.[4] They also playedfifth andsixth edition of BPL in 2017 and 2019 respectively.
On 16 November 2019,Bengal Group was named as the sponsor of the team and it was renamed toRajshahi Royals.[5] Rajshahi Royals became thechampion of2019–20 Bangladesh Premier League.
After that, the team was excluded fromBangladesh Premier League till 2024.[6]
In 2024, the team was acquired byValentine Group and renamed asDurbar Rajshahi.[2]
TheEast-West Derby, also known as thePadma-Karnaphuli Derby is acricket rivalry in theBangladesh Premier League between Durbar Rajshahi andChittagong Kings, symbolizing regional pride rather than cricketing dominance. Rajshahi has won the BPL once, finished as runners-up once, and qualified for the playoffs a total of four times. On the other hand, Chittagong are yet to win the BPL, but they have finished as runners-up once and reached the playoffs a total of five times.[7]
Duronto Rajshahi was captained byMushfiqur Rahim and had the likes ofMarlon Samuels,Sabbir Rahman andMohammad Sami by his side. The team dominated during the league stage, winning 7 of their 10 games, finished at the top of the leaderboard. However, they lost toBarisal Burners in the semi-final, ending a positive campaign.[8]
This time, the team was led byTamim Iqbal who had the likes ofMoeen Ali andSean Ervine accompanying him. This time, Rajshahi just managed to finish in the top 4 during the league stage, winning 5 games out of 12 matches. Their campaign ended as they were disqualified during the playoffs.[9]
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The kings were the other new team alongsideKhulna Titans participating this year. They signedMohammad Sami andDarren Sammy (who was, later on, made the skipper) pre-draft. As they were one of the new teams, the kings were allowed to select two local cricketers in the draft before the initial procedure. They selectedMehedi Hasan andNurul Hasan. They signed Sri Lankan openerUpul Tharanga (missed whole tournament due to national commitments), English all-rounderSamit Patel and more from the overseas department in the draft. They boughtMominul Haque,Farhad Reza and some more local talents also from the draft. They also signedKiwi all-rounderJames Franklin and Jamaican seamerKesrick Williams mid-tournament. They chose[10]Sabbir Rahman as their icon player.[11]
The kings started off with a 3 run defeat toKhulna Titans and lost toBarisal Bulls (Sabbir 122) in a nail-biting finish. They notched up crucial victories againstDhaka Dynamites (did so twice) andKhulna Titans to qualify for the playoffs.
They won againstChittagong Vikings andKhulna Titans in the eliminator and the 2nd qualifier game respectively.Unfortunately, the suffered a heavy defeat againstDhaka Dynamites in the final.
They replaced previous iconSabbir Rahman with wicket-keeper batsmanMushfiqur Rahim as the icon player and retainedMominul Haque,Farhad Reza andMehedi Hasan. They signed English opener and part-time seamerLuke Wright and West Indian top-middle order batsmenLendl Simmons to provide stability to the top order and also made a one-season contract withZimbabwe'sMalcolm Waller to give the lower-middle order a boost. They extended the contract for one more year with Franklin, Sami and Sammy (remade skipper).[12]
In the draft, The Kings got the first pick in the lottery and unsurprisingly selected wiry left-arm seamerMustafizur Rahman. They were riding their luck as they also gained the first pick in the overseas selection in the draft, pickingPakistani leggieUsama Mir.The surprise picks were U19 all-rounderQazi Onik, in-form orthodox spinnerNihaduzzaman, pacerHossain Ali and little known Pakistani all-rounderRaza Ali Dar.[12]
The Kings began their conquest with a lost toRangpur Riders and could not fully recover from the early defeat. They went on to lose more matches but secured some victories on the way. Overall, they finished 2nd last at 6th.
They retainedMominul Haque,Zakir Hasan,Mehedi Hasan,Mustafizur Rahman andMohammad Sami. They signedAfghan leg-spinnerQais Ahmad and South AfricanChristiaan Jonker pre-draft[13]
In the draft, Rajshahi snatched in-form batsmanSoumya Sarkar as their first pick. From the overseas department, they signed the likes ofIsuru Udana andRyan ten Doeschate. Their head coachLance Klusener was present in the event.[13]
The team signed South African Al-rounderJP Duminy as one of their direct signings.[14] But later, BCB decided to run this edition of the BPL themselves without taking any franchises, which meant the new signing could not represent this team on this edition of the tournament.[15][16]
However, During the player's direct signing period, aConflict of Interests aroused between BCB and all other franchise. Subsequently, in September 2019, BCB made some changes in rules and regulations for this season and eliminating all franchises, BCB took over the charge of the current BPL and decided to run this current tournament by the board itself and named the tournament asBangabandhu BPL T20 2019 in order to pay homage toSheikh Mujibur Rahman on his birth centenary.[17]IPC Group became the team sponsor. They renamed it toRajshahi Royals.[18]In November 2019, post players draft,Shoaib Malik andAndre Russell were included in Rajshahi Royals team in the2019-20 Bangladesh Premier League.[19][20]
Rajshahi Royals was thechampion of the Bangladesh Premier League 2019–20 Season.[21]
Under a new franchise, the team was initially considered weak.[22]
They only signedAnamul Haque Bijoy as a direct pick beforeplayer draft.[23]
In the player draft, they brought inSaad Nasim fromPakistan andLahiru Samarakoon fromSri Lanka as their foreign recruits. Overall, the team signed 12 players from the draft, withTaskin Ahmed standing out as the most iconic signing. Other notable names includedU19 World Cup winnerAkbar Ali andJishan Alam. They also secured the services of experienced internationalsYasir Ali andShafiul Islam.[23]
Following the draft, the team added a speedsterMrittunjoy Chowdhury and a seasoned spinnerShohag Gazi to the team. On top of that, they signed some noteworthy foreign players, includingRyan Burl andMohammad Haris.[24][25]
The team has beatenKhulna Tigers,Dhaka Capitals, andSylhet Strikers so far.[26] Most surprisingly, they defeated the currentGSL champion and 13-match unbeatenRangpur Riders in both legs.[27]
Durbar Rajshahi was a strong contender for the play-off (top 4), but because of their low NRR, they finished in 5th place in the point table.
| Year | League standing | Final standing |
|---|---|---|
| 2012 | 1st out of 6 | Semi-finals |
| 2013 | 4th out of 7 | Playoffs |
| 2015 | Did not participate | |
| 2016 | 4th out of 7 | Runners-up |
| 2017 | 6th out of 7 | League stage |
| 2019 | 5th out of 7 | League stage |
| 2019–20 | 2nd out of 7 | Champions |
| 2022 | Did Not Participate | |
| 2023 | ||
| 2024 | ||
| 2025 | 5th out of 7 | |
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| Finals | ||
| Participating teams | ||
| Defunct/Suspended teams | ||
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| Statistics and records | ||
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| Related topics | ||
