PILOT, OF BBC RAJSHAHI

Comilla Victorians all-rounder Saifuddin was busy answering questions in the post-match press conference yesterday, when suddenly from the back of the room a certain famous personality raised his hand to ask a question. The questioner was none other than the former Bangladesh captain Khaled Masud Pilot. "How did you feel between losing the first game and winning this one?"

The young Saifuddin became a little nervous at this unconventional turn of events, not prepared for something like this from a former captain.

"I missed you a lot," came the polite and shy reply. Masud was not willing to let the rookie off so easy. "There was huge pressure, right?" he asked. By then Saifuddin had adjusted to the wicket and gave a more assured, smiling reply. "There was no pressure as we can lose a game. I did not hear anything from the team. We won the game today and hope to continue this." After the press conference Masud was asked which media house he works for. "BBC Rajshahi," was the light-hearted reply. The former captain then praised the youngster and said that Saifuddin has a bright future ahead.

RONCHI TIMES, THEN POWERS

Luke Ronchi is not the most famous name among the T20 mercenaries of world cricket, but two shots yesterday showed just why he is a regular in most franchise leagues around the world. Dwayne Bravo ran up to bowl his first over, the fifth of Chittagong Vikings' innings, and soon enough the West Indian bowled the slower off-cutter that has flummoxed many batsmen. It fooled Ronchi too, but the Kiwi batsman adjusted to the change in pace, got down on one knee, delayed his shot and just uncocked his wrist at precisely the right moment. The shot itself looked like it would produce a single to midwicket, but it sailed over the midwicket fence for six.

The wily Bravo delivered another slower in the next ball, but Ronchi was prepared for it, and this time it was a conventional slog -- the result, however, was the same.

SOUMYA'S REVERSE PSYCHOLOGY

Soumya Sarkar came out with a strategy to unsettle the bowler with reverse sweeps. The stylish left-hander, who spends a lot of time practising the shot in the nets, implemented that in the game immediately. He started with a powerful reverse-sweep for a six to left-arm spinner Arafat Sunny in the third over when he swivelled quickly to get into position and smacked a length delivery for six over point. He smashed another boundary with the same stroke against off-spinner Mohammad Nabi. But it seemed like he was trying the shot quite often -- at least six times before he was eventually dismissed trying to scoop a slower delivery from Saifuddin only to miss the line and was bowled after scoring 38 off 33 balls, with 10 runs coming from the reverse-sweep.

A TORRID DEBUT

Debuts are auspicious occasions for cricketers, and yesterday was a debut for pacer Hossain Ali that went awry. He made his maiden BPL appearance for Rajshahi Kings against Sylhet Sixers yesterday and the 19-year-old from Narsingdi bowled the third over of the innings and was the victim of some brutal hitting by in-form Sylhet openers Upul Tharanga and Andre Fletcher. He started off with a wide and tried to bowl fast but most of his deliveries were misdirected as he was hit for four boundaries in his first over, which cost 17. Hossain was unable to make an impact in the game and ended up giving away 36 from his three overs. Indeed a debut he would want to forget.