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Bangladesh will hope to create an upset after beating Sri Lanka in their first Super Four game

Sidharth Monga23-Sep-20254:47

Chopra: India lives in Bangladesh’s head rent free

Big picture: Can Bangladesh challenge India?

Even though they haven’t been close games, the tension during the two India-Pakistan matches has made players do and say things they otherwise wouldn’t. One of them is based on facts but lacks professional humility. After beating Pakistan once again, India captain Suryakumar Yadav invoked a dominant head-to-head in recent years in order to call for an end to the term “rivalry” for these contests.There is good reason to believe Suryakumar, or any India captain, would not have said what can be interpreted as arrogant had it not been Pakistan and the current relations between the two countries. For where is a rivalry for India in recent times? Since the start of 2024, India have won 32 and lost three matches of T20I cricket.The sheer talent, now coupled with the appropriate intent, has turned India into perhaps the most formidable T20I side ever assembled. Add to it the slowness of the Dubai pitches, and India are able to experiment with just one frontline quick and getting him to bowl three overs in the powerplay.Related

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Those who market the sport will not be too thrilled at such numbers because the biggest draw in sport is the possibility. If there is any consolation, though, one of the three defeats India have suffered in these two years has come against Zimbabwe.Bangladesh will go in believing they can cause an upset. They have just done that to the leaders of their group in the first round, Sri Lanka. They did so using the slowness of the conditions with Mahedi Hasan and Mustafizur Rahman combining for figures of 8-0-45-5. The reward is massive. If they can somehow beat India, Bangladesh will be a good shout to enter the final. Can they do the unthinkable, beat India for the first time since 2019, repair their 16-1 head to head, and somehow initiate a rivalry?

Form guide

India WWWWW (last five T20Is, most recent first)
Bangladesh WWLWW

In the spotlight: Sanju Samson and Mustafizur Rahman

Another experiment that India are able to work on is Sanju Samson in the middle order. Clearly, the team management seems to have decided that Samson is too good a player to be sitting out, so they are trying to create a place for him in the side now that the top order is packed with Shubman Gill, Abhishek Sharma, Suryakumar and Tilak Varma. The one innings he has played there is no sample size to draw any conclusions, but there were signs he wasn’t quite at home when starting against an older ball. So eyes will be on him whenever he gets a chance to bat.4:20

Chopra: India need to give Samson a long rope

One of the challenges for Samson and the rest of the middle order will be the canny bowling of Mustafizur Rahman, who becomes double dangerous on slower pitches. He showed that against Sri Lanka with figures of 4-0-20-3. An encore could give Bangladesh a strong chance against India.

Team news: No changes expected for India

In the first round, India experimented with their combination only once their progress to the Super Four was confirmed. So don’t expect any changes to their first-choice XI, which they returned to against Pakistan.India (probable): 1 Abhishek Sharma, 2 Shubman Gill, 3 Tilak Varma, 4 Suryakumar Yadav (capt), 5 Sanju Samson (wk), 6 Shivam Dube, 7 Hardik Pandya, 8 Axar Patel, 9 Kuldeep Yadav, 10 Jasprit Bumrah, 11 Varun ChakravarthyCaptain Litton Das complained of a back strain during training two days before the match, but he should be okay to play. The one change Bangladesh are pondering is Tanzim Hasan for Shoriful Islam, who travelled for 49 runs against Sri Lanka.Bangladesh (probable): 1 Saif Hassan, 2 Tanzid Hasan, 3 Litton Das (capt. & wk), 4 Towhid Hridoy, 5 Shamim Hossain, 6 Jaker Ali, 7 Mahedi Hasan, 8 Nasum Ahmed, 9 Taskin Ahmed, 10 Tanzim Hasan, 11 Mustafizur Rahman

Pitch and conditions

As expected, the pitches have been slow, making it difficult to score quickly in the middle overs. Expect more of the same in the extreme heat of Dubai.

Stats and trivia

• With the wicket of Fakhar Zaman, Hardik Pandya went past Yuzvendra Chahal to become India’s second-highest wicket-taker in T20I cricket, now only three behind Arshdeep Singh’s 100.
• Mustafizur is tied with Shakib Al Hasan as the most prolific wicket-taker for Bangladesh. When he does go past Shakib, he will become only the fourth bowler in T20Is to reach 150 wickets.

Keeper recognises need to be more proactive alongside lower-order, but focussed on volume of runs

Matt Roller30-Mar-2024Ben Foakes will continue to bat in the top six for Surrey in the early stages of the County Championship season, despite conceding that he is learning on the job while batting at No. 7 in England’s Test team.Twenty-five Tests into his England career, Foakes has batted exclusively at No. 7 or 8 and has often struggled to adjust to batting alongside tailenders. He made 205 runs in 10 innings during their recent 4-1 series defeat in India, with a top score of 47, during which time his career average dropped below 30.”I felt like I kept pretty well; my keeping felt good,” Foakes said, reflecting on his performances in India. “To start off, I didn’t feel amazing with the bat and then, yeah, disappointed in a couple of innings that I didn’t kick on. Again, that role of batting lower down, batting with the tail – the more I do it, the more I look at it as: ‘How many times can I impact [the game]?”Because in some series you might not get an opportunity to go big, for example, so it is very crucial when you do get a chance to try and really kick on, so I was disappointed in the fourth Test [in Ranchi] where I could have kicked on and didn’t. I felt alright with the bat. I’m still evolving and trying to learn [how to bat] with the tail and how to manage those sorts of situations.”Foakes under-performed with the bat during the India series•Associated Press

Foakes has been happy to play second fiddle in big partnerships with frontline batters, including his series-turning century alongside Ben Stokes against South Africa in 2022, but has found it harder to find the right tempo when batting with England’s bowlers. Those struggles were perhaps best exemplified during a ninth-wicket stand worth 12 runs in 12.2 overs with Shoaib Bashir in the second innings at Ranchi.”Naturally, batting higher up is preferable for me,” Foakes said. “Obviously, when you play for England, that will not always happen and it is understandable. But it naturally suits my game more to be higher. Over the period of time I’ve played for Surrey, there are not that many instances where you come in, face five or 10 balls, and you’re batting with the lower order when you have to play a different game.”Yet Foakes does not intend to slide down the order in the Championship in order to gain more experience in that role. Instead, he believes that his hopes for retention in the England side ahead of their next Test against West Indies on July 10 will be best served by him scoring as many runs as possible from the middle order.Related

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“It’s tricky,” he said. “I’ve been in and out of England, but it’s always been about trying to get runs to get back in the England team. Here [at The Oval] I’ve found a pretty good spot at No. 5. I’ve been pretty successful for a few years, and for me, it is about always working on my game so I feel like I can do a decent job if that situation does arise.”There was definitely a period where all my focus and all my training was just to bat and bat and bat, and trying to grind big scores. For me, it is more about trying to score big runs for Surrey but then also working on that [batting with the tail] as more of an add-on than just the odd session… to maybe have a gameplan where I can take someone down rather than just bat against them.”Foakes has grown accustomed to coming in and out of the England side, and goes into the 2024 summer with a familiar lack of clarity around his status in the Test set-up. “I haven’t been told anything,” he said. “The more years I’ve got into my career and the more I’ve been in and out, I’ve almost come to an acceptance that it has been the case.”I try not to worry about it, try not to stress too much about getting a long run or external stuff. India, first and foremost, I took as just trying to really enjoy it. The more times you get dropped, the more you realise you don’t know how long you’ve got left… while you’re out there, rather than stress too much about the game or think ‘this might be my last chance’, just enjoy the fact you are playing and you don’t know how long for, essentially.”England are due to play a dozen Tests in the second half of 2024, so Foakes is considering missing an early-season Championship game in order to manage his workload. “It depends what they’re looking at. [It depends] whether I am likely to play or not likely to play, and then [I will] reassess.”

Head coach Jonathan Trott’s contract has been extended until the end of the 2023 ODI World Cup

ESPNcricinfo staff28-Jan-2023UAE will host Afghanistan for three T20Is in Abu Dhabi starting February 16 as part of the agreement signed by the two cricket boards last November, wherein the Emirates Cricket Board (ECB) will be offering the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) logistical and infrastructure support for the next five years, including hosting their “home” matches for the period. As a result, Afghanistan committed to playing UAE in a three-match T20I series annually until the deal expires.”We are honored to be [a] part of this partnership, and are pleased with the results of our recent talks and negotiations with the Emirates Cricket Board,” Naseeb Khan, CEO of the ACB, said. “Playing this T20I series is the first step in our long-term commitment, and we are looking forward to a continued relationship with ECB.”The teams will be meeting across formats for the first time since March 2018. However, this series isn’t a part of the ICC’s FTP during the 2023-27 cycle, where they are slotted to play 21 Tests, 45 ODIs and 57 T20Is. This will also be Afghanistan’s first assignment this year, with another three-match T20I series to be played against Pakistan in March. That series might be held at a neutral venue, with the Afghanistan and Pakistan boards to equally split the revenue.Related

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For the UAE series, Afghanistan have selected a preliminary list of 22 players for a preparation camp in the UAE. Rashid Khan will be leading the visitors, who will be departing for the UAE next week for a conditioning camp in Abu Dhabi before the series. The squad will then be trimmed to 17 members.Meanwhile, the contracts of head coach Jonathan Trott, bowling coach Umar Gul and fielding coach Ryan Maron had come up for extension last month. The ACB has been deliberating on the matter – in which time the team had been in the care of assistant coach Raees Ahmadzai – and green-lit Trott and Maron to stay on till the end of the 2023 ODI World Cup*. Gul’s deal has run out.The timing of the UAE series means several Afghanistan players will be missing the first week of the Pakistan Super League, which starts in Multan from February 13.Given the political situation in Afghanistan, it has remained a no-go zone for international teams. The situation escalated with the Taliban’s takeover in August 2021, following which several ACB staff fled the country. Thereafter, even getting visas for Afghanistan players to play abroad became a challenge.The ACB subsequently arranged UAE residency visas for about two dozen players and staff, making UAE as their home away from home. In fact, Australia even cancelled a three-match ODI series against Afghanistan scheduled for March after the Taliban banned university education for girls.Afghanistan’s 22-member squad: Rashid Khan (capt), Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Abdul Rahman Rahmani, Afsar Zazai, Azmatullah Omarzai, Bilal Sami, Farid Ahmad Malik, Fazal Haq Farooqi, Gulbadin Naib, Hazratullah Zazai, Ibrahim Zadran, Mujeeb ur Rahman, Najibullah Zadran, Nangyal Kharoti, Naveen Ul Haq, Nijat Masoud, Noor Ahmad, Rahmat Shah, Sediqullah Atal, Shahidullah Kamal, Sharafuddin Ashraf, Zahir Khan*

Manchester Originals still winless despite Sophie Ecclestone’s all-round efforts

ECB Reporters' Network31-Jul-2021Welsh Fire’s women claimed their first win of the Hundred thanks to an excellent effort in the field and an impressive innings of 71 from Hayley Matthews as they defeated Manchester Originals in Cardiff.The Fire won the toss and put the Originals into bat. The Originals reached 120 for 6 from their 100 balls with Sophie Ecclestone top-scoring with a late-innings flourish of 31 not out off 15 balls.The Fire got their innings off to a fantastic start thanks to Matthews who once again hit powerfully down the ground, and reached their target with nine wickets and 12 balls to spare. This defeat means the Originals are still to claim a win in the tournament.Related

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The Fire were brilliant in the field inside the powerplay with just 21 runs coming from the first 25 balls. Lizelle Lee had crunched the first two balls of the innings for four but from there the Fire kept things very tight. It wasn’t until the 36th ball of the innings that the Originals found the boundary again.The Fire managed to picked up early wickets with Lee was run out in the first set of five and Emma Lamb also going inside the powerplay which set the tone for a tight performanceHarmanpreet Kaur played the anchor role for the Originals, making 26 from 32 balls but no batter went on having got set. Mignon du Preez looked impressive, making a well-paced 24 before she chipped a ball from Georgia Hennessey to mid-off.It was Ecclestone who took the Originals past 100 and on to a score that they had some hope of defending. Her innings included a towering shot over midwicket off a Hennessy full toss. The Fire shared the wickets around with Hennessey finishing with the best figures of 2 for 24 from her 20 balls.Matthews had made 33 and 30 in the tournament thus far but here she kicked on to pass fifty from just 35 balls. She was well supported by Georgia Redmayne who made 38 from 35 balls.The Originals had a few moments where the undefeated partnership of 101 between Matthews and Redmayne could have been broken, not least when du Preez pulled off a stunning one-handed catch in the deep off Laura Jackson but it was judged to be a no-ball. As it was the two batters took their team to the victory target with ease.

Calls for fewer games, better pitches and more overseas players to revive league

Matt Roller14-May-2020Shane Watson has criticised the expansion of the Big Bash season from 32 group games to 56, describing the tournament as “just too long” and suggesting that “the quality of the cricket has been put on the back burner”.Watson, an influential figure in the as the president of the Australian Cricketers’ Association and one of Australia’s most experienced T20 players, proposed a four-step plan to “save our beloved BBL before it’s too late” on his blog ‘T20 Stars’ which involves: reverting to the format used in the 2017-18 season; only playing on “international quality” pitches; increasing the number of overseas players permitted per team from two to “three, if not four”; and stopping players from being mic’d up to ensure they can focus on the game itself.Discussions about the Big Bash’s format have been a near-constant feature of the Australian summer in recent years. The tournament’s group stage lasted 32 games in 2016-17, when the average attendance was over 30,000, but while aggregate attendance has grown steadily, the average has decreased markedly to around 18,000 in 2019-20.An expanded finals stage meant there were 61 games in total last season, and Watson said that “the writing was on the wall” ever since CA announced its new broadcast deal in 2018 that involved extending the season.”Continuing on after the kids go back to school is another reason why the tournament runs out of puff in the lead up to the finals, when this should be the time when the tournament really cranks up,” Watson said. “Again, the tournament is just too long. It’s disappointing for all of the families that follow the season so closely until school goes back, and the last thing parents want is for their kids to stay up [until] nearly midnight watching the matches on a school night.”Watson also criticised the standard of the tournament, suggesting that a combination of poor pitches, a lack of international players, and the distraction caused by conversations with commentary teams has diluted the quality of cricket.”A lot of the warning signs… have very sadly started to come to fruition,” he said. “I know all too well that the quality of the cricket that is being played in the BBL is now behind some of the tournaments around the world.”The one thing that the IPL and PSL do is make the quality of the cricket, the product, the number one priority. This is where the BBL has really lost its way. The quality of the cricket has been put on the back burner in the Big Bash and the entertainment gimmicks have been brought to the forefront.”As the BBL is comprised of 8 teams, the talent pool is already stretched pretty thin and now with the extension of the tournament, it is a challenge to keep your best players fit. Right now, if a team gets a few injuries, the franchise has to continue to find club cricketers to fill in. This happened way too many times during the season just gone. If the BBL wants to be one of the best T20 leagues in the world they need to have the best players in the world participating in the league.”Watson described the pitches he played on at the Sydney Showground as “very ordinary at worst and pretty good once in a blue moon”, and suggested that the Thunder should either ensure the drop-in wickets at the ground are “world-class” or consider playing all their home games at Manuka Oval in Canberra.The average scoring rate in the competition dropped from 8.37 in 2016-17 to 7.82 in 2018-19, coinciding with an increase in the number of fixtures played at outgrounds – though it did jump back up to 8.15 in 2019-20.”In theory, it sounds great to play games out in regional areas, so other BBL fans can watch their favourite players,” Watson said. “Well, they need to make sure that the pitches are up to a world-class standard to ensure that world-class cricket can be played at these venues.”

Queensland managed a small first-innings but could face a tough chase in conditions that continue to aid the bowlers

Alex Malcolm04-Mar-2019A critical unbeaten half-century from Daniel Hughes gave New South Wales a chance to put up a challenging fourth-innings total after giving up a first-innings lead to Queensland at the Gabba.The Blues began their second innings on day two 35 runs behind Queensland after the Bulls’ tail wagged courtesy of Jimmy Peirson and Mark Steketee.Hughes lost his opening partner Nick Larkin in the third over of the innings, with only five runs of the lead erased, when Michael Neser made the breakthrough having Larkin caught behind.Hughes was joined by Kurtis Patterson and the pair chipped away at the lead and put the Blues in front with a 48-run stand before Luke Feldman struck.After five wickets in the first innings, including finding the outside edge of Patterson, Feldman nipped one back off the seam from around the wicket to find Patterson’s inside edge and Peirson took an excellent catch to his right.Hughes pressed on to his 13th half-century in Sheffield Shield cricket from 137 balls. He played with the patience required in conditions that continued to swing and seam. Moises Henriques was fine support, finishing 23 not out from 60 balls to leave the Blues 68 runs in front with eight wickets in hand.Earlier, Peirson and Steketee both made 41 as the Bulls climbed out of a hole at 7 for 104 to establish a lead. The pair added 50 for the eighth wicket before the breakthrough came via the unlikely source of batsman Jack Edwards as he had Peirson caught behind for his first wicket in first-class cricket.Steketee swung hard and found the boundary five times in his unbeaten 41, his equal second-highest score in Shield cricket. He added 30 with No. 10 Feldman before Sean Abbott and Trent Copeland finished the innings with wickets in consecutive overs to bag three scalps apiece.

A six-wicket haul from the left-arm spinner Aditya Sarwate completed Kerala’s humbling in Surat, where Vidarbha won by 412 runs to set up a semi-final meeting with Karnataka

ESPNcricinfo staff11-Dec-2017PTI

A six-wicket haul from the left-arm spinner Aditya Sarwate completed Kerala’s humbling in Surat, where Vidarbha won by 412 runs to set up a semi-final meeting with Karnataka. Kerala, who were bowled out for 176 in their first innings, did even worse in their second, slumping to 165 all out after being set an improbable target of 578.Vidarbha already led by 501 when the fifth day began, and they declared after scoring a further 76 runs for the loss of three wickets in 22.4 overs in the morning. Akshay Wadkar, their wicketkeeper, completed his second half-century of the match in that period, and was unbeaten on 67 (110b, 4×4, 1×6) when Vidarbha declared. KC Akshay, the left-arm spinner, took two of the wickets that fell in the morning to finish with innings figures of 4 for 118 and match figures of 9 for 184.Kerala had been batted out of the match, but they still had a chance to save it. Sarwate, however, had other ideas, taking 6 for 41 in 16.2 overs – his fifth five-wicket haul in only his 14th match; he now averages an astonishing 16.40 in first-class cricket – to bowl them out in 52.2 overs. Salman Nizar, batting at No. 3, scored 64 (104b, 4×4, 4×6), but none of the other Kerala batsmen got to 30.

A round-up of all the Group B matches from the third round of 2016-17 Ranji Trophy matches

ESPNcricinfo staff20-Oct-2016As many as 13 wickets fell in Kolkata as Karnataka took the opening-day honours, taking a 41-run lead with seven wickets intact after bowling Delhi out for 90 in less than a session in their Group B fixture at Eden Gardens.Stand-in captain Karun Nair’s decision to bowl first was vindicated by the new ball bowlers. S Aravind, the left-arm seamer – who replaced the injured captain Vinay Kumar – triggered the meltdown, taking 4 for 12 in 11 overs as Delhi slumped to their lowest score against Karnataka. Their previous-lowest was 138 in the 2005-06 season.Aravind was complemented by Abhimanyu Mithun and offspinner K Gowtham, who returned to the state side after four years during Karnataka’s season-opener last week. Mithun took two wickets, and Gowtham took three, including that of the in-form Rishabh Pant (24) who had been put down twice – once by Gowtham himself at backward point, and once by Mayank Agarwal at slip.While the surface had a green tinge, it was far from menacing as the scorecard suggested. This was in evidence as the Karnataka openers added 87. While R Samarth, coming off a double century against Jharkhand, exuded confidence in his 53, Agarwal buried flamboyance for discipline for his 56, before fending a Vikas Tokas bouncer to third slip. Karnataka ended on 131 for 3, with Nair and Mithun at the crease.The effectiveness of Karnataka’s seamers may have encouraged Ishant Sharma, who was returning to competitive cricket after chikungunya kept him out for more than a month. But he was ineffective for the most part, as his length erred on the shorter side. On the odd occasions where he bowled full, he was driven comfortably. In comparison, Aravind proved that minute deviations on a helpful surface are just as effective as raw pace.Delhi’s only highlights came towards the ends of the day, when Robin Uthappa (5) and Agarwal (56) were caught in the slips.Cheteshwar Pujara carried forward his good form from the New Zealand Tests•Associated Press

Saurashtra’s Cheteshwar Pujara (79 not out) and Sheldon Jackson (105) made Maharashtra rue their decision to bowl first in Vizianagaram. The pair’s 164-run third-wicket stand helped Saurashtra recover from the loss of their openers in the first session and post 285 for 3 at stumps. Jaydev Shah, the captain, was unbeaten on 35.Jackson, who walked in to bat at 67 for 2, struck 10 fours and five sixes in his 12th first-class ton, a 155-ball 105, before Akshay Darekar, the left-arm spinner, dismissed him in the final session. Sagar Jogiyani (24) and Avi Barot (28) were the other batsmen to be dismissed, falling to Rahul Tripathi and Mohsin Sayyad respectively.Ganesh Satish (93 not out) and Sanjay Ramaswamy (83) were the architects for Vidarbha, who went into stumps on Day 1 of their clash against Assam in Trivandrum on 254 for 3. The base was built during the course of a 131-run second-wicket stand between the pair, after Faiz Fazal, the captain, elected to bat. Offspinner Swarupam Purkayastha, picked up two wickets in four deliveries to briefly spark a revival, but Ganesh and Ravi Jangid ensured there was no further damage.Pankaj Singh’s second five-wicket haul this season put Rajasthan in a strong position against Jharkhand in Vadodara.Kaushal Singh top scored with 56 in Jharkhand’s 209 all out after electing to bat. Kaushal’s 96-run sixt-wicket stand with Ishank Jaggi (49) helped Jharkand climb out of a hole at 69 for 5. Pankaj Singh took three of those first five and ended with 5 for 60 off his 21 overs, while Nathu Singh and Ajay Singh took two wickets apiece.Rajasthan were 26 without loss at stumps.

The BCB has received expression of interest from 11 enterprises for the third edition of the Bangladesh Premier League

Mohammad Isam18-Aug-2015The BCB has received expression of interest (EOI) from 11 enterprises for the third edition of the Bangladesh Premier League. But no one who participated in the first two editions submitted their applications, after the BCB had terminated contracts with the seven franchises last year due to payment issues.Afzalur Rahman Sinha, BPL governing council chairman, said that the new franchises have to pay BDT 1 crore (USD 128,625) as a bank guarantee. They have also set a few subjective criteria, including involvement with sports at some capacity in the past.The EOI were received from DBL Group, Sohana Group of Industries, Beximco, BBS Cables, Blues Communications, Networld Bangladesh, Mediacom Limited, Index Group, Bengal Communications, Axiom Technology and Fiber@home Limited.”The next step will be to scrutinise the interested parties,” Sinha said in a press conference on Tuesday. “We will speak to them [the bidders]. Those who are real sports lovers and were involved with various clubs and sports in the past, will get priority.Ismail Haider Mallick, the governing council’s member-secretary, said that the process of choosing the new franchises should be completed within the next three weeks.”We hope to start on November 22 or 25. Groundwork has been completed. We wanted to do the BPL with five teams but seeing the response it now seems we can start with seven teams.”We hope to complete the processing for the new franchises by the first week of next month. They have submitted their expression of interest (EOI). We have already reduced the structure,” he said.Mallick added that those interested in owning a new team must understand that the business model of the BPL has reduced significantly, and it has to be run similar to the way Dhaka clubs operate in the Dhaka Premier League (a domestic one-day tournament), but first they have to ensure the bank guarantee.”The new franchise owners have to keep in mind that they can’t do business here. They will be spending as much as a title-challenging Dhaka Premier League club does. They shouldn’t expect anything in return. Those who are sports-oriented, will get preference. They will also have to meet some financial conditions.”Everyone says the right things when they are taking the franchise. That’s why we have put a financial bar that they have to meet to reach the next stage,” he said.Mallick said that if the new franchise owners include any of the old defaulters, they will be asked to be removed. At the moment, BCB’s legal unit are in arbitration with the previous franchises for recovering payments.”We have said it time and again that we have financial dispute with seven franchises,” he said. “It has gone to arbitration, not in our hands. Our legal department is handling the matter. Nobody has cleared their debts so they couldn’t apply for a franchise.”Among the new applicants, we didn’t consider the older ones. Many of them contacted us. If they clear their dues before we finally announce the franchises, the board will take them into consideration.”Mallick added that player payments for the previous editions had been “done” and only some issues remain with local players.”Some cricketers have made legal claims. We had said during the second BPL that all payments should be made by the board. But the cricketers received payments from the franchises. Now we can’t match their claims. We can see differences.”We had made Naimur Rahman [BCB director] as the point man for the local cricketers. He has settled most of it. Now we will just have to pay them this month,” he said.

Khulna Royal Bengals, led by Shahriar Nafees’ 71, claimed their first victory in five games as they beat Duronto Rajshahi by seven wickets in Mirpur

The Report by Mohammad Isam08-Feb-2013
ScorecardShahriar Nafees played a responsible knock for Khulna Royal Bengals yet again•Bangladesh Cricket Board

Khulna Royal Bengals claimed their first victory in five games, beating Duronto Rajshahi by eight wickets. Chasing 139 to win, the Royal Bengals, led by Shahriah Nafees’ 71, sauntered to victory in 19.2 overs.Nafees, like in the previous two wins by his team, was the key contributor in the victory. He struck eleven boundaries in his 52-ball knock, finishing the match with a six off Ben Edmondson with five runs required for victory. He guided the chase with two partnerships; he added 63 for the second wicket with Travis Birt, who made 23 off 26 balls with two fours and a six, and followed this up with a 54-run stand in 6.4 overs with Jehan Mubarak, who remained unbeaten till the end for a 27-ball 30.Earlier, Rajshahi had recovered to post a fighting total after they had slipped to 64 for 6 in the 11th over. Mukhtar Ali and Sean Ervine added 42 for the seventh wicket, and Mukhtar remained unbeaten on 41 to lead them to 138. Mukhtar hammered four boundaries and two sixes during his 30-ball innings.For the Royal Bengals, Krishmar Santokie took three wickets while left-arm spinner Sanjamul Islam and legspinner Noor Hossain picked up two each.Both teams played with different captains today; Lou Vincent led the Royal Bengals despite Nafees being in the playing eleven, and Tamim captained Rajshahi in place of Chamara Kapugedera.