Home ›› 27 Jan 2023 ›› Sport
The Sylhet phase of the ongoing Bangladesh Premier League will begin today as table-toppers Sylhet Strikers will lock horns against Rangpur Riders while second-place Fortune Barishal will face Chattogram Challengers.
The teams trained on Thursday ahead of their respective clashes as all the teams are looking for a win, either to stay alive or ensure moving on to the play-offs.
Sylhet Strikers vs Rangpur Riders
Sylhet come to their home venue as the best team of the tournament as they currently sit top of the points table with six wins from seven games.
On the other hand, Rangpur have had a mixed tournament so far, with three wins and three defeats.
For Sylhet, the equation is pretty simple. If they manage to win their three matches at their home ground, they will be almost guaranteed a place in the top two, which will allow them to have a margin of error in the play-offs.
Their team have thus far performed as a holistic unit, where young batters Najmul Hossain Shanto, Towhid Hridoy, and Zakir Hasan has stepped up with the bat, while young pacer Rejaur Rahman Raja has starred alongside the senior stars in Mashrafe Mortaza, Mohammad Amir, and Imad Wasim.
Their skipper Mashrafe, expectedly, wants those performances to continue and win all three matches in Sylhet.
“The matches at Sylhet are very important for us despite having six wins in seven matches. The way the other teams are playing, it’s important to finish in the top two. It can become very close. That is why the matches here in Sylhet are very important,” he told the media.
Mashrafe added, “The talk about being champions is too much. We have to leave that to time. It’s important to carry on the way we have been playing. We wanted to create a competitive Sylhet team that the supporters could own. That has been done. If we reach the play-offs, it depends on the day.”
On the other hand, Rangpur have been heavily reliant on their veteran Pakistani recruit Shoaib Malik, while the others have performed here and there.
Team mentor Mohammad Rafique wants that to change.
“We have taken a good preparation after coming here to Sylhet. Sylhet are a good team, they have already gone much ahead in the tournament. On the other hand, we have lost close matches. But we don’t have the luxury of committing mistakes anymore. Now, we have to win every match. Tomorrow, we hope to start over against Sylhet,” he said.
Fortune Barishal vs Ctg Challengers
Barishal were flying in the ongoing BPL following their opening match defeat to Sylhet as they won five games on the trot.
They had the chance to go top by beating Sylhet in their latest game, but an agonising two-run defeat meant that they were held up in second place.
On the other hand, Chattogram have been having a bad time in this year’s BPL as they have won only two out of their seven matches and are currently languishing at the bottom of the table.
They come to this match on the back of three successive defeats and against Barishal, it will be a tough task as they are in pretty solid form with both bat and ball.
Barishal’s biggest strength in this edition has been the form of their skipper Shakib Al Hasan, who currently leads the scoring charts with 304 runs in six innings. He is followed by another Barishal batter Iftikhar Ahmed at fourth, who has 273 runs, including a century.
Chattogram will hope that their batters find form somewhere, especially Afif Hossain, who could not bat in their last match due to illness. With him back in the XI, they will be hoping that their fortunes also turn as a defeat might leave them out of contention for the play-offs.
