Bangladesh President Zillur Rehman today inaugurated the first edition of the Bangladesh Premier league T20 cricket tournament in Dhaka. The inauguration was marked by a colourful opening ceremony at the Sher_E-Bangla cricket stadium which involved performances by Bangladesh and Indian cultural personalities. The Bangladesh Premier league tournament modeled on the Indian Premier league is scheduled to be played from February 9th to 29th this year. The six franchisees for the Bangladesh Premier league 2012 are Barisal Burners, Chittagong Kings, Dhaka Gladiators, Khulna Royal Bengals, Duronto Rajshahi and Sylhet Royals. The competition will start with a double round robin group stage, in which each of the 6 teams will play against every other team twice followed by two semi-finals and the final. A total of 33 matches will be held during the tournament. Of those, 25 will be held in Dhaka while the eight will be held in Zohur Ahmed Chowdhury stadium in Chittagong. The tournament will see players from Bangladesh and international players like Pakistan's Shahid Afridi and West Indies Batsmen Chris Gayle playing for different franchisees of theBPL T20.