Smith, Warner raring to go
The fans will not have to wait for long to witness the most eagerly-anticipated battle of the sixth edition of the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) as the second day of the tournament pits Sylhet Sixers' David Warner against Comilla Victorians' Steven Smith in the first game at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium today.
In the other match of the day, Mahmudullah Riyad's Khulna Titans will take on Mashrafe Bin Mortaza's Rangpur Riders.
The debut appearance of the two Australians, who have been serving 12-month bans due to Australia's ball tampering incident in Newlands last year, has already created a lot of hype in Bangladesh cricket.
Smith, who arrived on Friday, spent some busy time at the BCB academy premises yesterday after joining training session with his Victorians teammates.
Having completed a 20-minute batting session in the nets, Smith worked further with throw-down before wrapping things up with a fielding session.
When asked about his maiden BPL appearance for Comilla, the former Australia captain said, "It was a fantastic day and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Naturally I want to win the tournament for Victorians.''
Comilla faced a big blow before the campaign, missing out on five of their top players including Afghan spin master Rashid Khan and hard-hitting English batsman Jos Buttler due to the Big Bash League coinciding with the BPL.
However, the inclusion of Smith, after a lot of drama, will surely strengthen the side that already boasts Bangladesh's best batsman in the form of Tamim Iqbal at the top of the order.
Comilla also has an array of explosive all-rounders in the form of Pakistan's Shahid Afridi, Sri Lanka's Thisara Perera and promising Bangladeshi all-rounder Mohammad Saifuddin. The bowling department is pretty healthy too, with Liam Dawson, Abu Hider, Mosharraf Hossain and Mahedi Hasan the key figures.
"Smith was very comfortable with us and it seemed like he knew us for long time despite coming to Bangladesh just a day ago. Hopefully there will be no problem with him. He is a professional player, I think, he could adjust with all. We all will help him as much as possible for our team's betterment,'' top-order batsman Imrul Kayes told reporters.
Sylhet, on the other hand, will be eyeing top-four spot this time around under skipper Warner, with the likes of Andre Fletcher, Nicholas Pooran and Gulbadin Naib among the foreigners.
The presence of Liton Das, Sabbir Rahman, Afif Hossain and Nasir Hossain makes their local assemblage a healthy one as well.
Taskin Ahmed will lead the pace bowling department with Ebadat Hossain while the bowling department has the experience of Sohail Tanvir, Mohammad Irfan, Imran Tahir alongside the youthful exuberance of Sandeep Lamichhane.
"To me it is about making sure that we, as a whole including the support staff and management, can get the best out of the players. We have to establish our best eleven when we get to the park and make sure we do the right things in training. I have to make sure I am doing my job right, which is scoring runs and leading the guys on the park,'' Warner told reporters during his introduction on Thursday.