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(Sports) Roundup: 3rd season of Bangladesh's cricket league kicks off with dazzling opening ceremony

Xinhua, November 21, 2015 Adjust font size:

The third season of Bangladesh's cricket league kicked off Friday evening with a dazzling opening ceremony in the country's capital Dhaka.

The six-hour multi-million-U.S.-dollar ceremony saw performances from a host of famous local and foreign singers, dancers and performers.

Bangladeshi Finance Minister AMA Muhith opened the third season of the Bangladesh Premier League(BPL), the country's professional cricket tournament, at the opening ceremony.

Performers enchanted thousands of spectators in Dhaka's Shere-e Bangla Cricket Stadium during the more than six-hour opening ceremony.

With a total of six franchises consisting of players from around the world, the monthlong tournament will run till Dec. 15.

The competition involves six franchises -- Dhaka Dynamites (Beximco Group), Chittagong Vikings (DBL Group), Barisal Bulls (Axiom Group), Rangpur Riders (I Sports Limited), Sylhet Superstars (Alif Group) and Comilla Victorians (Royal Sporting Limited).

The T20 tournament is scheduled to start from Sunday. Rangpur Riders will take on Chittagong Vikings in the tournament opener while Comilla Victorians will meet with Dhaka Dynamites on the same day .

Twenty20 game, often referred to as the short cricket game, involves two teams, each has a single innings, batting for a maximum of 20 overs.

Its getting more popular in the country since its two South Asian neighbors -- India and Sri Lanka -- launched the similar tournaments.

As timespan of the Twenty20 cricket game is about 3 hours, each innings lasting 75 minutes, so this brings the game more in line with other globally popular sports such as football or rugby. Endit