BPL Cricket begins today

Sports Reporter :
The Ispahani Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) Cricket will begin at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in the capital’s Mirpur today. Comilla Victorians will take on Durdanto Dhaka at 2.30pm. In the day’s other match, Sylhet Strikers will face Chattogram Challengers at 7.30pm at the same venue. Private satellite channel GTV and T Sports will telecast the matches live from the arena. A total of seven teams will take part in the BPL Cricket, the most prestigious domestic cricket competition of the country. They are: Sylhet Strikers, Durdanto Dhaka, Chattogram Challengers, Comilla Victorians, Fortune Barishal, Rangpur Riders and Khulna Tigers. The first phase of the tournament will be held in double league basis. Top four teams will compete in the last four stage, which will be held in play-off basis. Top two teams get tickets of the final. The gala final will be held on March 1. All the matches will be aired by GTV and T Sports. Bangladesh Cricket team will participate in the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup which will be held in the United States of America and the West Indies from June 1. The BPL will be held in T20 format and the World Cup will be held in same format. So, the tenth edition of the BPL Cricket will be boost up the cricketers and the players will get a great chance to prepare themselves for the ensuing World Cup.
The Chief Executive Officer of the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) Nizam Uddin Chowdhury said, “There was national polls and everyone was busy with it. So we can’t do much work to create the hype but the behind the work was going to run the tournament smoothly. Once it will roll onto the ground, the hype will create automatically.”
Head Coach of Durdanto Dhaka Khaled Mahmud said, “
“Whenever anyone makes a team, his target is to become champions. But in reality, our first challenge is to qualify for knockouts. Sometimes it needs luck to become champions.”
Left-arm pacer Shoriful Islam, who will play for Durdanto Dhaka said, “No doubt, BPL will help a lot since T20 World Cup is ahead. This is our prime T20 tournament. Everyone wants to draw the attention by performing well here. I think the tournament will benefit us in preparing for the T20 World Cup.”
The 46 matches of the BPL Cricket will be held at the three venues across the country. They are: Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in the capital, Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chattogram and Sylhet International Cricket Stadium in Sylhet. The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) will arrange the gala extravaganza with the financial assistance of Ispahani Group and powered by Nagad. Besides, a good number of organisations are the co-sponsors of the cricket competition.
Dashing opener Tamim Iqbal will lead Fortune Barishal as the Captain, Shuvagata Hom will lead Chattogram Challengers as the Captain, Mosaddek Hossain will lead Durdanto Dhaka as the Captain, Nurul Hasan will lead Rangpur Riders as the Captain, Mashrafe Bin Mortaza will lead Sylhet Strikers as the Captain, Anamul Haque Bijoy will lead Khulna Tigers as the Captain, Litton Das will lead Comilla Victorians as the Captain.
This is the tenth edition of the BPL Cricket. Comilla Victorians emerged as the champions of the BPL Cricket for highest four times, while Dhaka Gladiators became champions in the BPL Cricket two times, Dhaka Dynamites clinched the BPL trophy for one time, Rajshahi Royals and Rangpur Riders won the BPL crown one time each.