Home ›› 16 Feb 2023 ›› Sport
After more than a month of cricket, the ninth edition of the Bangladesh Premier League has finally reached its last day as Comilla Victorians, the defending champions, will take on Sylhet Strikers, led by the most successful BPL captain Mashrafe Bin Mortaza, in the final today at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium.
Ahead of the final, one thing lies in common between Comilla and Mashrafe.
Both have a 100 per cent record when it comes down to BPL finals. Comilla – played three, and won three, including one with Mashrafe as the skipper. Mashrafe – played four, and won four, with two coming with the now-defunct Dhaka Gladiators, one for Comilla, and the other for Rangpur Riders, whom Sylhet beat in the second qualifier to reach the final.
That win, at one point, looked improbable for Sylhet as Rangpur needed only 46 runs off five overs with seven wickets in hand. Sylhet, though, dug in deep and in the end, gained a win by 19 runs, a margin that on any other day, would be considered quite a big one in 20-over cricket.
Mashrafe, after expertly leading his side to the win, refused to say that he had the Midas touch.
“I have no magic; everything is God’s grace. It’s not like I will not lose the final because I have not lost one yet. There’s no point in living in the past. We have a final to play on Thursday. We will try our best,” he said in the post-match press conference.
However, as the former Bangladesh skipper aims to take on the final, his team will face the most in-form side in the tournament in Comilla, who have strung together a winning streak of 10 matches to reach the final, and more importantly, beat Sylhet in the first qualifier to claim the first final berth. In the league stage, the teams beat each other once.
Like his usual self, the most successful Bangladesh skipper did not lack confidence in his team.
“Just because Comilla have a great team compared to the other teams, it does not mean we cannot play with confidence. If we can play our game as we have throughout the tournament, keep the focus on ourselves, and contribute to the important aspects, then why not?
“There is no such thing as my magic. The boys have played well and I hope they will play another good match,” Mashrafe said.
Nevertheless, the difference in the final might just be made because of the gulf of quality in the squads. Just like Mashrafe stated, Comilla have a great squad, consisting of overseas players such as Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, and Moeen Ali – big names of the global T20 setup.
Sylhet, on the flip side, are more dependent on their local talents, especially in their batting as the top two run-scorers in the tournament belong to them – Najmul Hossain Shanto and Towhid Hridoy.
Expectedly, Comilla skipper Imrul Kayes wanted to restrict that batting firepower of Sylhet but added that it all depended on how they controlled their emotions.
“As a captain, I would want to bowl them (Sylhet) out for 50 runs. And when batting, I would want to score more than 200. But it doesn’t depend on what I want. The whole match is a mind game. It depends on who manages to keep themselves the calmest. There is no guarantee that you will win if you score 200,” he said ahead of the final.
Per the mind games, one is already evident as there have been talks of Mashrafe’s magic touch but Imrul believes it’s in the end a team game.
“Cricket is a team game, there is nothing called magic here. If you are united and your team plays well, you will get results in your favour. It’s important to keep the environment healthy in franchise cricket. Mashrafe bhai manages that really well. You can call that his magic,” the Comilla skipper said.
In the end though, the final boils down to one point, whether it’s Comilla or Mashrafe, the winning streak of one will end today.
“They (Sylhet) are playing good cricket, and so are we. We came back after losing three matches on the trot. Everyone has worked hard to reach the final. We will approach it in the same manner we have. We will play it like a normal match. If we play good cricket, the result will hopefully be in our favour,” Imrul hoped that it was Mashrafe’s that ended.
The Bangladesh Cricket Board has tried to bring some festivity into the final as there will be a concert three-and-a-half hours before the final, where popular bands Warfaze, Nagar Baul, and Maqsood o Dhaka will perform.
The final starts at 6:30 PM at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium to put a full stop on the ninth edition of the BPL, unless the weather has something to say and the match moves to the reserve day on Friday.
