Race for last-four heating up in BPL

The race for the semi-final spots promises to be a fascinating one as the Bangladesh Premier League reached its halfway stage. All the teams have played seven games each so far with the exception of Rangpur Riders, who have played six, and the second leg of the premier T20 competition in the country promises much with a climactic end in store. All seven teams are in with a fighting chance of making it to the last four.
Sylhet Royals have made a resounding start to their campaign and find themselves at the top of the points table with 12 points. With six wins and a defeat, Sylhet were the early pace-setters and barring a miracle, the Mushfiqur Rahim-led outfit look set to reach the semis at a canter.
Dhaka Gladiators have accumulated 10 points from their seven matches, including five wins and two losses, and after a stop-start campaign, find themselves in second place in the standings. With the exception of early-favourites Sylhet, six teams are expected to battle it out for the three remaining spots up for grabs.
Three franchises – Chittagong Kings, Rangpur Riders and Duronto Rajshahi – have garnered six points so far but Chittagong occupied third spot on a superior run rate. Rangpur are in fourth place having played a game less. Rajshahi are fifth but Barisal Burners and Khulna Royal Bengals, the sixth and seventh teams, are not too far away with four points each.
The points table is delicately poised as one win or a defeat for a team can completely change the complexion of the standings. For instance, Chittagong were rooted at the bottom of the table prior to their last two matches, but with two convincing wins against Barisal Burners and Dhaka Gladiators the port-city outfit jumped into third place. The creditable nature of the victories (by eight wickets and 54 runs) also allowed Chittagong to improve their run rate.
The standings can change by a whisker and the teams will be mindful of that heading into the last round of matches. Nothing can be judged for sure until the double round-robin stage comes to an end. The organisers are expected to rub their hands in anticipation and glee seeing the competitive nature of the BPL’s second edition.
The exciting atmosphere of BPL-2013 can be attributed to the consistent performances of the local cricketers, who were somewhat subdued in the inaugural edition. Among the top three run-getters, two are Bangladeshis while the bowling charts have two locals in the top three.
Nasir Hossain has made a blazing start for Rangpur with two fifties, including a highest score of 80 while Khulna skipper Shahriar Nafees is the only player to have scored a century in the BPL-2013 to date.
Besides Nasir and Nafees in the top three, the youngsters are also staking their claim for a place in the national squad in the not-too-distant future. Nasir’s team-mate at Rangpur Shamsur Rahman has already struck three superb fifties so far while Barisal’s Sabbir Rahman looks to be an interesting prospect. Although Sabbir has a single fifty-plus score, he has not failed to captivate the crowd with his impressive strokeplay.
The bowling display by the local cricketers has also caught the attention of the cricket followers. With 11 and 10 wickets respectively, Sylhet’s Shohag Gazi and Rangpur captain Abdur Razzak are the torchbearers for their sides. The two local left-arm spinners – Mosharraf Hossain and Enamul Haque Jr – have also bowled astonishingly well. There are a couple of disappointments, however, with national pacer Mashrafee bin Murtaza grabbing a solitary wicket in six matches while Rubel Hossain has only three dismissals in four games to show for his efforts.
POINTS TABLE
Team            P     W     L    P      RR
Royals         7      6     1    12    0.563
Gladiators  7      5     2    10   0.610
Kings            7      3     4    6      0.490
Riders          6      3     3     6    -0.042
Duronto      7      3     4     6    -0.673
Burners       7      2     5     4    -0.334
KRB               7      2     5     4    -0.566