Chattogram eye play-off spot

After a high-scoring Chattogram phase that ended on December 24, the Bangabandhu Bangladesh Premier League (BBPL) will resume at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur today.  

Table-toppers Chattogram Challengers, who won three of their four home fixtures, will face third-placed Dhaka Platoon in the day game with the top spot at stake. In the evening match, Khulna Tigers will lock horns with bottom-placed Rangpur Rangers.

Chattogram’s stand-in captain Imrul Kayes, who has been in fine form, informed that his team would like to win today’s fixture and confirm their spot for the play-off.

“The future plan is to win the next game as maybe we will confirm [play-off spot] if we can win six matches, and then we will have four more matches and we will think about it later. But the next target is to win the next game,” Imrul told reporters after Chattogram Challengers’ practice session at the Academy ground in Mirpur yesterday. 

Imrul also shed some light on regular skipper Mahmudullah Riyad’s return. Mahmudullah, who missed the last two matches of their Chattogram phase due to a recurring hamstring injury that he originally sustained during Bangladesh’s pink-ball Test against India last month, may miss today’s game but is expected to return for the next game if the physio declares him fit.

“This actually depends on the physio. But I hope that even if he cannot play tomorrow’s [Friday’s] game, he will be available for the next matches. But it is still not certain.”