The new but crucial fourth phase of the ongoing special edition of the Akash-DTH Bangabandhu-Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) Twenty20 Cricket Tournament-2019 will roll onto ground after a day break at the picturesque Sylhet International Cricket Stadium (SICS) in the tea garden-girt city of Sylhet today.
The span of the new phase will be three-dayers, where a total of six matches that are vital for the participating BPL teams will be held on the trot, from where it is almost ensured which teams are progressing to the play-off berth.
It’s not understood and finalized yet which teams are actually going through from the round-robin league stage because the winnings of Cumilla Warriors and Rangpur Rangers have overturned all the calculations at the last moment of the third phase in Dhaka. So, all the teams will be finalized in the fourth phase in Sylhet.
Rajshahi Royals will face off Rangpur Rangers in the leg-opening match at the Sylhet International Cricket Stadium at the Lakkatura tea garden area of Sylhet at 1:30pm. Sylhet Thunder will round off Cumilla Warriors on the day’s second match of the newly-start fourth phase at 6:30pm.
None of the teams held their pre-match day practice session at the host city baring Sylhet, who practiced at the District Sports Association (DSA) ground in Sylhet yesterday under the supervision of their head coach Herschelle Gibbs.
The Thunder, who accommodated in Nirvana Inn Hotel in Sylhet after coming from Dhaka, turned up to the ground with a view to standing tall from the new phase of the Bangabandhu-BPL on their home territory.
Local pace boy Ebadot Hossain Chowdhury said that they will try to show their all-out game on their home turf as they are lying to the bank of the departure from the BPL.
“We know we have no hopes about the play-off phase mathematically. But we will do what is possible for us to revive a glimmer of hopes we have,” said Ebadot Hossain Chowdhury.
“We will play three matches here in Sylhet and one in Dhaka out of the remaining four games. We have to give instruction from the coaches and the team management in that way so that we can triumph all the four matches,” Chowdhury told The Independent.
“We will do our effort. The rest things depend on our luck,” he added.
Chattogram Challengers, Khulna Tigers, Dhaka Platoon and Rajshahi Royals have restored their top four places at the BPL standings, where Cumilla Warriors, Rangpur Rangers and Sylhet Thunder can turn the fate of any well-placed team though the former teams are a bit ahead than the latter teams as the four top points-getter will qualify for the next phase of the play-offs.
Sylhet Thunder are now on the verge of the early exit from the tournament, the team who chalked up only two points from their eight matches. Their exit from the round-robin league has almost been confirmed. It’s just needed for a formality. But their glimmer of hopes to qualify for the team-team stage might be effective if they can win the rest of the four matches they have at home ground, where they will play three matches in three days and the rest one in Dhaka.
Rangpur Rangers are also in a complex situation but they have more possibility than Sylhet as they played so far seven matches where they won four points from two wins. For this, many of the equation will be open in the ensuing fourth phase of the domestic blockbuster Twenty20 cricket tournament.
The top four teams will fight to restore the places and will have keen to cement their respective positions because their position might be interchanged or anyone of the fifth and sixth teams might be entered into the play-off at the fight of the last moment.
There will be seen changes in the players of the teams because some foreign star and globe-trotting players are going away and some are coming afresh. Shahid Afridi and Thisara Perara will not be seen in Sylhet leg. They brought in Ahmed Shehzd and Faheem Ashraf, the duo will be seen in the new phase. Hashim Amla and Aamer Yamin will be seen in Khulna tents. Chris Gayle will be seen in Chattogram ranks in the fifth phase in Dhaka.