Premier Div starts today

The domestic cricket league for the season is to begin in earnest as the Premier Division Cricket League 2009-2010 begins today at four different venues --Dhanmondi, Fatullah, BKSP and Bogra.
Defending champions Abahani take on Kalabagan Krira Chakra at BKSP, while Mohammedan take on Victoria Sporting at Dhanmondi Cricket Stadium. Surjo Torun will play against newcomers Khelaghar Samaj Kalyan Samity at the Shaheed Chandu Stadium in Bogra.
The curtain raiser of the season was held with a very successful and entertaining staging of the shortest form of the game that concluded a week ago. Abahani emerged champions in that tournament beating Gazi Tank in a nail-biting final that produced some entertaining cricket and with it a large crowd.
Eternal rivals and contenders for this league title, Abahani and Mohammedan will be have do without the services of the players from the national squad for at least the first three rounds due to their participation in the ODI series against touring Zimbabwe national team. Among the other title contenders Biman have no players in the current national squad while most of the stars of Gazi Tank are ICL-returnees who are yet to be considered for the national side.
Most hard-hit probably will be Abahani who spent big in the preseason transfers and lived up to their billing by winning the T20 tournament, but this time they will surely be without the services of national skipper Mashrafe bin Mortaza who is still nursing his operated knee. They may well have to do without their influential stand-in skipper Shakib Al Hasan, who is still not hundred per cent fit and may go for rest after Bangladesh's current ODI series against Zimbabwe. The big teams have drafted in some international stars to fill in the gap left by the national stars. Sri Lankan all-rounder Farveez Maharoof will wear the Mohammedan shirt, while his compatriot Jehan Mubarak will play for the national flag-bearer Biman. Gazi Tank will avail the services of former all-rounder of India national team Hemang Badani, while Abahani have drafted in a Ranji Trophy player Ajay Kurva who bats in the middle order and bowls occasional spin.
The same twelve teams that played in the T20 tournament will be vying, this time against each other in a round-robin system.