The country’s lone franchise-based T20 tournament Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) is set to get underway today at its new venue Sylhet International Cricket Stadium amid a fanfare and expectation to repair the scar that created following a shocking South Africa tour.
The tournament is considered as the platform of regaining the confidence that was vastly damaged and to make the players mentally stronger than ever by playing with the quality foreign players ahead of another crucial home series against Sri Lanka.
The tournament rolls onto the ground with two matches on the opening day—defending champions Dhaka Dynamites vs newcomer Sylhet Sixers and Rajshahi Kings vs Rangpur Riders.
“The last tour in South Africa was too bad to forget but the BPL could be the great platform to improve the mental state and to regain the confidence. It would be a good practice to correct our mistakes that we had done in the series,” said Mashrafe Bin Mortaza, Bangladesh’s ODI captain and also the captain of Rangpur Riders.
“It will take time to forget the tour but I hope every player will give their best and that’s the best way to forget the tour.”
This is the first time that the BPL starts from outside of Dhaka and even with no opening ceremony. The expenditure of the opening ceremony was donated to the flood affected people which was a praiseworthy job. It is however believed as the Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference (CPC), held in Dhaka from November 1-8, coincided with BPL’s opening week, the venue is taken into Sylhet.
As per the future plan of expanding the BPL throughout the country, Sylhet venue has been added along with Dhaka and Chittagong this time. And there was no better place other than Sylhet. Since it was unveiled for the international matches, it is considered as the most beautiful stadium of the country because of its scenic beauty. The stadium, almost at the end of the city, is surrounded by hills and tea garden, making the place a sight to behold. Almost 10 thousand spectators now could watch the game and after the completion of the work, the stadium would contain 20,000 spectators at a time.
So far some international matches and aged level matches were held at this ground but for the first time a tournament of such magnitude is being held here, making abuzz for the people of the Sylhet. All tickets were sold out immediately once those were put on sale. The tickets are now being found in the black market with high price.
The demand of tickets is the testament of how the tournament set ablaze the city. However not only ticket, once somebody from outside enters into the city, he would easily understand the fervor the BPL created in the city. Almost all of the crucial places of the city are shrouded by festoon and banners of the different franchisees and obviously Sylhet Sixers are ahead than others since it’s their home ground.
But Sylhet who came with new name in the tournament after a season would get a stern test today when they face of reigning champions and tournament favourite Dhaka Dynamites who have covered all area with shrewdness. With Evin Lewis, Kumar Sangakkara, and Rovman Powell, the top order looks solid. They will be shored up by Mosaddek Hossain, Nadif Chowdhury, Cameron Delport and Joe Denly.
Their bowling attack will bank on local players like Mohammad Shahid and Abu Hider while Mohammad Amir and Ronsford Beaton bring pedigree as well. The three allrounders - Shakib Al Hasan, Shahid Afridi and Kevon Cooper - can expect support from Sunil Narine, who has shown increased batting prowess of late. They have also strong bench strength.
The Sylhet franchise's new owners have put together a relatively young side. Their star attractions would be Babar Azam, Sabbir Rahman, Liam Plunkett. The little-known Ross Whiteley's T20 form from the English summer has gone as far as earning him this contract and he could be handy.
Sylhet Sixers also have batting strength in the likes of Andre Fletcher, Upul Tharanga and Danushka Gunathilaka as well as local performers like Imtiaz Hossain and Nasir Hossain.
Plunkett will lead the bowling attack alongside three left-arm pace bowlers -- Krishmar Santokie, Usman Khan and Ghulam Mudassar. Taijul Islam and Chaturanga De Silva will play an important role with their accurate left-arm spin while Wanindu Hasaranga's leg-spin will be an attacking option at some stage.
Rangpur Riders has Mashrafe Bin Mortaza in their arsenal, a captain who won three consecutive BPL titles with Dhaka Gladiators and Comilla Victorians but what would be attractive to see is their deadly opening pair in Brendon McCullum and Chris Gayle though none of them will be featured in the opening match against Rajshahi Kings. The batting line-up will also have Kusal Perera, Johnson Charles and Sam Hain among their overseas options while among the locals, they have Mohammad Mithun and Shahriar Nafees. Ravi Bopara, David Willey, Thisara Perera and Ziaur Rahman will provide all-round thrust while Mashrafe Mortaza and Rubel Hossain will lead the pace attack. A lot of the work, however, will fall on Samuel Badree who will get help from Sohag Gazi, Abdur Razzak and Elias Sunny in the spin department. With the line up Riders is easily the strong contender for Dynamites in the fifth edition of BPL.
Rajshahi Kings, last year's finalists,have added Mushfiqur Rahim, Luke Wright and Lendl Simmons to the team mostly retained from the last year, which should provide them the batting depth they sometimes missed last year. To their bad luck Mustafizur Rahman would miss the action for two weeks.
Rajshahi's top-order will be manned by Wright, Simmons, Mominul Haque and Mushfiqur while Malcolm Waller, Samit Patel, James Franklin and Raza Ali Dar will be expected to take charge during the middle and end of each innings. They also have Darren Sammy and Farhad Reza for all-round firepower.
BPL-5 fixture on page 13