Ridin' on the Gayle storm

The highlight of the Barisal Bulls is none other than Chris Gayle. The dangerous left-handed batsman still holds the record for the two highest scores in the Bangladesh Premier League. He has played just six BPL games and has three hundreds to his name and with an average of a 100.50, the BPL seems to be Gayle's forte.

However Barisal will have to wait a bit before they can unleash their super power because the West Indian will only be available after December 1. Until then they will have to depend mostly upon their local players because, apart from Gayle, it's still unclear how effective the other foreign players in their side can be. They have signed up Zimbabwe's Brendan Taylor, West Indians Kevon Cooper and Evin Lewis, Pakistan's Imad Wasim and Mohammad Sami and Sri Lanka's Seekuge Prasanna.

All-rounder Wasim could be handy player in Bangladesh. The 26-year-old boasts a T20I average of 60 and he also can throw in those slow left-armers which can prove to be quite effective in these conditions.

However, the effectiveness of the likes of Sami and Taylor are yet to be determined since neither has played international cricket for a while.

As a result -- like Shahriar Nafees rightly pointed out after the team's training session at Mirpur -- their local players will have to perform in order for them to reach the knock-out stages.

And the key player amongst the locals could be Sabbir Rahman. For all the talent that the youngster possesses, he still hasn't managed to shine much in international cricket. He is yet to play a big knock in international cricket and the BPL could be his inspiration. He was promoted to number three in the absence of Shakib Al Hasan in the first T20I against Zimbabwe, which goes on to show the importance that he has in Bangladesh's T20 squad. All he needs to do now is get a move on in this tournament.

Also in the side are Mahmudullah Riyad, Al-Amin Hossain and Taijul Islam. Along with Sabbir, these will be the players that Barisal will depend upon the most, considering the fact that the rest of the players haven't played international cricket.

Also in the side is Shohag Gazi, an off-spinner who has been desperately trying to re-ignite his career after it came to a halt following his action being questioned. Gazi has been in good touch in domestic cricket and he will hope he can use this tournament as a launching pad for his return to the national side.

SQUAD
Local players: Mahmudullah, Sabbir Rahman, Al-Amin Hossain, Shohag Gazi, Taijul Islam Shahriar Nafees, Mehedi Maruf , Nadif Chowdhury, Rony Talukdar, Mohammad Sharifullah, Sajedul Islam.
Foreign players: Imad Wasim, Mohammad Sami, Seekuge Prasanna, Chris Gayle, Brendon Taylor, Kevon Cooper, Evin Lewis
Coach: Graham Ford