3 things to watch as carnival starts
After missing out on its usual slot of November-December because of the 2018 general elections, the sixth edition of the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) finally kicks off today and the Bangladesh Cricket Board will hopefully stage a tournament with a higher level of organisational competence than has been seen in previous editions.
Defending champions Rangpur Riders, led by the inspirational Mashrafe Bin Mortaza who will be looking to prove that his focus remains with cricket after being elected member of parliament, will open the season by taking on Mushfiqur Rahim's Chittagong Vikings at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur today at 12:30pm.
In the day's other game Shakib Al Hasan's heavyweight Dhaka Dynamites will take on young Mehedi Hasan Miraz's Rajshahi Kings from 5:30 pm.
To mark the beginning of the month-long cricket carnival, we picked a few aspects to keep an eye on.
ORGANISATION
There is a saying among officials and journalists who have covered the tournament: there is nothing final when it comes to the bylaws of the BPL and it can change overnight. There have been quite a few such instances, with the previous edition's chaos between Comilla Victorians and Rangpur being the most recent in a long line of administrative gaffes. After rain halted the game, match officials decided to extend the cut-off time by two hours to 11:15pm. According to the playing conditions, the team placed higher in the points table would go through to the final in case of rain causing an abandonment, in which case Comilla would have gone through. Instead the match was restarted again the next day and the quite amusing excuse was that it was for the greater good. It will be interesting to see whether the organisers decide this time that sticking to their own bylaws may be for the greater good.
FOCUS ON LOCAL PLAYERS
After a lot of talk about providing more exposure to local players, the organisers have finally switched back to seven local and four overseas players in the playing eleven from this season. Previously, it was six local and five foreign players and the decision will surely put a lot of focus on local cricketers. The performance of the likes of Sabbir Rahman, Taskin Ahmed, Mosaddek Hossain, Abu Jayed -- along with the other fresh faces like recent Test debutant Khaled Ahmed -- will be critical to their chances of making a comeback. While over-reliance on foreign players will reduce, having the likes of Steve Smith, David Warner, Chris Gayle and AB de Villiers along with Bangladesh's big names as teammates will be a valuable learning experience for young local players.
HIGH SCORING PITCHES
The pitch in Mirpur has been and will likely remain a vital factor as it has not offered enough runs for batters. It was often a source of disappointment in previous seasons as quite a few matches were low-scoring affairs. The over-dependency on Mirpur and the resultant wear and tear produced the highest number of low scoring matches at the venue last season with the lowest being Chittagong Vikings' 67 all out against Sylhet Sixers. Comilla skipper Tamim Iqbal was even fined for criticising the Mirpur pitch last season and it will be important for the organisers to ensure sporting pitches this time around as Mirpur once again has the most games.
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