Tamim expects Gayle to fire in crucial matches

Resurgent Chittagong Vikings will lock horns with Rajshahi Kings in the Eliminator of the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium (SBNCS) at 1:00pm today.

The match will be do or die for both Kings and Vikings. The team, who will lose the match, will be eliminated from the competition and the winner will go into the Qualifier-2, where they will meet with the loser of the Qualifier-1.
Rajshahi Kings earlier faced-off Chittagong Vikings twice in the league phase, in where both team won one match each. Vikings thrashed Kings by 19 runs in their first meeting at their home turf in Chittagong but Kings took their harsh revenge at third phase in Dhaka beating Vikings by six wickets.
Now it is a matter of watching which team will be victorious in their next clash at this knock-out stage. Kings led by Darren Sammy and Vikings led by Tamim Iqbal have taken their respective preparation for tomorrow’s match at the BCB-National Cricket Academy (NCA) ground at the same time.
Darren Sammy and Tamim Iqbal shared a light moment before going into the practice session. The key players of both the teams are West Indian. In the Chittagong squad, T20 specialist batsman Chris Gayle along with Dwayne Smith, who will be aided by Pakistan all-rounder Shoaib Mallik Afghanistan all-rounder Mohammad Nabi, English pacer Tymal Mills, New Zealand all-rounder Grant Elliott, Sri Lanka all-rounder Jeevan Mendis.
On the other hand, Darren Sammy and Kesrick Williams will be supported by Pakistani pacer Mohammad Sami and English all-rounder Samit Patel in Rajshahi squad. Vikings skipper Tamim Iqbal said that they are concentrating on the next match against Rajshahi Kings so that they could go into the Qualifier-2 by winning this match before progressing to the summit clash.
“Each match is do or die for us to go into the final. At this moment we are not thinking about final match. Tomorrow’s match is very important for us. If we could win the match then we will have two matches ahead. If we think about final disregarding the next two matches then it will be tough for us. Except our last two matches, we played better cricket in our previous five matches,” said Tamim Iqbal.
“We are confident as a team. The mistakes we have done in the last two matches we will try to do less number of mistakes in the match as much as possible. Hopefully it will be better if we could play positive and aggressive cricket,” Iqbal told reporters.
Tamim said that he expects Gayle will fire in their crucial matches what he did not do in the past four matches despite having capability.
“I don’t feel sad because of Gayle’s run-barren. But I know he may explode at any moment, the match will then be one-sided. Hopefully he will play one or two big innings and make our work easier for us,” he told about Gayle.
On the other hand, Darren Sammy said that they are poised to face Chittagong Vikings in the next important match. 
“We played against them earlier. They were also stronger side but we beat them. We respect all the teams. Tomorrow match is knock-out for us. We are ready to face them,” said Darren Sammy.  “Our planning is to play the basic game and that’s our plan. He struck 19 centuries and is the best T20 best. He is successful and experienced. There will have a discrete plan for him. It’s a matter of execution.”

Tamim expects Gayle to fire in crucial matches

Resurgent Chittagong Vikings will lock horns with Rajshahi Kings in the Eliminator of the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium (SBNCS) at 1:00pm today. The match will be do or die for both Kings and Vikings. The team, who will lose the match, will be eliminated from the competition and the winner will go into the Qualifier-2, where they will meet with the loser of the Qualifier-1. Rajshahi Kings earlier faced-off Chittagong Vikings twice in the league phase, in where both team won one match each. Vikings thrashed Kings by 19 runs in their first meeting at their home turf in Chittagong but Kings took their harsh revenge at third phase in Dhaka beating Vikings by six wickets. Now it is a matter of watching which team will be victorious in their next clash at this knock-out stage. Kings led by Darren Sammy and Vikings led by Tamim Iqbal have taken their respective preparation for tomorrows match at the BCB-National Cricket Academy (NCA) ground at the same time. Darren Sammy and Tamim Iqbal shared a light moment before going into the practice session. The key players of both the teams are West Indian. In the Chittagong squad, T20 specialist batsman Chris Gayle along with Dwayne Smith, who will be aided by Pakistan all-rounder Shoaib Mallik Afghanistan all-rounder Mohammad Nabi, English pacer Tymal Mills, New Zealand all-rounder Grant Elliott, Sri Lanka all-rounder Jeevan Mendis. On the other hand, Darren Sammy and Kesrick Williams will be supported by Pakistani pacer Mohammad Sami and English all-rounder Samit Patel in Rajshahi squad. Vikings skipper Tamim Iqbal said that they are concentrating on the next match against Rajshahi Kings so that they could go into the Qualifier-2 by winning this match before progressing to the summit clash. Each match is do or die for us to go into the final. At this moment we are not thinking about final match. Tomorrows match is very important for us. If we could win the match then we will have two matches ahead. If we think about final disregarding the next two matches then it will be tough for us. Except our last two matches, we played better cricket in our previous five matches, said Tamim Iqbal. We are confident as a team. The mistakes we have done in the last two matches we will try to do less number of mistakes in the match as much as possible. Hopefully it will be better if we could play positive and aggressive cricket, Iqbal told reporters. Tamim said that he expects Gayle will fire in their crucial matches what he did not do in the past four matches despite having capability. I dont feel sad because of Gayles run-barren. But I know he may explode at any moment, the match will then be one-sided. Hopefully he will play one or two big innings and make our work easier for us, he told about Gayle. On the other hand, Darren Sammy said that they are poised to face Chittagong Vikings in the next important match. We played against them earlier. They were also stronger side but we beat them. We respect all the teams. Tomorrow match is knock-out for us. We are ready to face them, said Darren Sammy. Our planning is to play the basic game and thats our plan. He struck 19 centuries and is the best T20 best. He is successful and experienced. There will have a discrete plan for him. Its a matter of execution.