A chance to right last season's wrongs

Prime Doleshwar Cricket Club's success in the last season of the Dhaka Premier League was applauded even by the sternest of their opponents. They finished second, just two points behind the eventual champions Prime Bank Cricket Club.

Although they did not win the championship, they did manage to win hearts mainly because of the way they systematically handled themselves throughout the competition. Their key national players last season were Mushfiqur Rahim and Mominul Haque, but Prime Doleshwar did not have their services for most of the league and needed the other players to step up.

And that is exactly what happened. In the absence of the services of their senior players, their openers Mehedi Maruf and Rony Talukdar stole the show. Rony scored 714 runs at an average of 51 and finished as the highest run-getter of the competition. That was the performance that helped him earn a chance in the national squad.

It therefore was not a surprise to see Prime Doleshwar buy Rony again. In terms of Icon players though, they plumped for Nasir Hossain. The all-rounder may not have received much of an opportunity during Bangladesh's T20 season, but the fact remains that he is a brilliant one-day player. Doleshwar will hugely depend on him with both bat and ball.

For Nasir too, this will be an opportunity to prove to the national team management once again the exciting ability that he possesses. Another prominent player in the side is all-rounder Forhad Reza who has been a handful as far as domestic cricket is concerned.

While Doleshwar finished second last season, the Legends of Rupganj finished a disappointing sixth. It was an anticlimax considering that the club had an extremely glamorous unveiling ceremony with Sachin Tendulkar coming in as the chief guest in that programme.

Rupganj may not have the senior stars in their team this year, but they have still managed to form a formidable line-up. They have got seven cricketers in the side who have played international cricket and there are a number of others who are hoping to make a name for themselves.

Their Icon player is Soumya Sarkar. Despite all his brilliance, his recent form remains a bit of a concern. He had a horrendous T20 World Cup and even before that he had a rough time in the domestic circuit. For Rupganj to fire, they need their Icon player to come to the party. Also in the side are Jahurul Islam and Mohammad Mithun, both talented batsmen but they too need to shrug off their recent form and start anew. Mithun was a surprise entrant in the World Twenty20 squad and did not manage to make much of an impact at the event. Jahurul on the other hand has been outside the national team for years now and he will be looking to make this season count.

Also in the side is Mosharraf Hossain Rubel, the all-rounder who has been doing well in domestic cricket. He recently led Central Zone to the Bangladesh Cricket League title and is the frontrunner to lead the Legends of Rupganj as well.