Published: Nov 04, 2016, 01:59 PM (IST)
Edited: Nov 04, 2016, 04:41 PM (IST)
Good afternoon, শুভ অপরাহ্ন! Hello and Welcome to CricketCountry’s live coverage of Match 1 of the ongoing Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) 2016, between Comilla Victorians and Rajshahi Kings, at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur, Dhaka on Friday. I am Suraj Choudhari, and I will be bringing to you the live updates from this opening tie. Comilla, the defending champions, are all set to kick off their campaign, as they look to repeat the heroics of last season, while they also aim to get off to a winning start, whereas Rajshahi would aim for the same and hope to cause an upset in the opening game of the season. Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) 2016: Schedule and Time Table
The fourth edition of the Bangladesh Premier League 2016 is all set to kick start on November 4, which will feature seven teams. The tournament will be played over a span of over month with the final being played on December 10. Two new teams will be making its debut this season — Khulna Titans and Rajshahi Kings with new ownership after the original franchises missed out the 2015 edition. The tournament is expected to be a thriller and the seven teams to participate in this are Comilla Victorians, Rajshahi Kings, Rangpur Riders, Khulna Titans, Barisal Bulls, Chittagong Vikings, and Dhaka Dynamites.
Defending champions Comilla Victorians will be once again lead by Mashrafe Mortaza, while Barisal Bulls the runners-up from the last season will have Bangladesh’s longer format skipper Mushfiqur Rahim leading the side. Tamim Iqbal will be leading Chittagong Vikings who will have a point to prove as they finished at No. 6 in the last season. Dhaka Dynamites will be lead by experienced Kumar Sangakkara, while Rajshahi Kings is mostly probably to be led by Darren Sammy under whose captaincy West Indies had recently won the Twent20 International (T20I) World Cup. Mahmudullah will be leading Khulna Titans yet once again and Shahid Afridi will be leading Rangpur Riders for the very first time. Bangladesh Premier League (BPL): BPL 2016 team and squad details
Expect some breathtaking actions for over a month as many overseas players have been drafted in the tournament. The final of the tournament will be played on December 10, 2016 at Dhaka. Each team will be play a total number of 12 games and the top four will get a nod ahead. All the games of the elimination round will be played at the same venue of Dhaka.
All the franchises were allowed to retain two local players from the previous season, the two new franchises – Khulna Titans and Rajshahi Kings were given the chance to pick two each up front. While Khulna went for left-arm spinner Mosharraf Hossain and pacer Shafiul Islam, Rajshahi picked Nurul Hasan and all-rounder Mehedi Hasan Miraz.
Squads:
Comilla Victorians: Abdullah Al Mamun, Al-Amin, Ashar Zaidi, Jason Holder, Imad Wasim, Imrul Kayes, Khalid Latif, Nuwan Kulasekara, Liton Das (wk), Mashrafe Mortaza (c), Mohammad Saifuddin, Mohammad Sharif, Nabil Samad, Nahidul Islam, Nazmul Hossain Shanto, Thisara Perera, Rovman Powell, Rashid Khan, Shahzaib Hasan, Sohail Tanvir.
Rajshahi Kings: Abul Hasan, Ebadat Hossain, Farhad Reza, Mehedi Hasan, Mohammad Sami, Mominul Haque, Nazmul Islam, Nurul Hasan (wk), Samit Patel, Raqibul Hasan, Rony Talukdar, Sabbir Rahman, Salman Hossain, Darren Sammy (c), Milinda Siriwardana, Upul Tharanga.
