Drama over semi spot
Controversy has touched today's semifinals line-up of the BPL T20 after it was announced that it will be Chittagong Kings instead of Barisal Burners who will take on Duronto Rajshahi in the afternoon game, while the second semifinal will be between Khulna Royal Bengals and Dhaka Gladiators.
The switch between Barisal and Chittagong was made as the tournament by-laws reportedly has head-to-head taking precedence over net run-rate, which means that Barisal were in an unfavourable position as they have two wins in their matches against Chittagong and Dhaka Gladiators while the latter two have won more matches between the three sides. But on Sunday night during the live telecast of the Barisal-Chittagong game, the broadcasters Channel 9 continuously flashed the requirement for Barisal to win the game (by scoring 151 runs) within 16 overs. They completed the job in 15 overs and celebrated their progress into the last four.
Shahriar Nafees, Barisal's icon player, was elated during the post-match talk to the media saying that they knew of the winning target being put in a tougher equation.
But according to a similar rule enforced by the England and Wales Cricket Board, in the event of more than one team being tied on the same number of points, past head-to-head results in the tournament in both rounds would apply. A team with a win over the other tied team in the point table will go above the other team which lost in prior matches. If these are equal, the team with the higher number of wins will go through; if still equal, net run rate will come into play.
As far as Channel 9 are concerned, they have taken statistical help from the BCB and will not speak about the matter.
BPL governing council chairman Gazi Ashraf Hossain however confirmed to the media that it will be Chittagong who will play the semifinals.
"According to the rule Rajshahi, Khulna, Dhaka and Chittagong are through,” he said.
Asked why Barisal were told that they have qualified if that was the rule, Ashraf said the BPL governing council never informed Barisal officially about it. "We are not supposed to tell a team if they have qualified or not. The rule is there for everyone to read,” he said.
Meanwhile, a large group of Pakistani cricketers will arrive from Dubai this morning for the semi-finalists. While Shahid Afridi and Saeed Ajmal are slated to appear for Dhaka Gladiators, hard-hitting opener Awais Zia will join the senior pros in the same team. Chittagong will have Umar Akmal and Wahab Riaz while Mohammad Hafeez is set to play for Khulna Royal Bengals.
Except Afridi and Ajmal, none of the others were on the players' auction list.
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