Dhaka: South African batsman AB de Villiers is joining the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) for the first time. The right-hander arrived in Dhaka on Thursday to join Rangpur Riders, the defending champions.

He will be playing the remaining matches of the league, reports the UNB.

Riders roped in Villiers under the direct signing act of BPL. He will join Chris Gayle and Alex Hales in the camp.

Villiers played 261 T20 matches.

Riders played six matches in BPL so far and won only two. Their performance with the bat has been poor.

In his long T20 career, AB scored 6,931 runs with three hundreds and 47 fifties. Before coming to BPL, he played in Mzansi Super League in South Africa for Tshwane Spartans.

He played 10 matches and scored 282 runs.