Heartbreak for Barisal, Chittagong sneak through
The Bangladesh Premier League stoked up a major controversy on Monday when the semi-final line up was announced devoid of Barisal Burners, who thought to be qualified a day earlier.
Duronto Rajshahi, Khulna Royal Bengals, Dhaka Gladiators and Chittagong Kings have completed the semi-final line up despite the last two teams finishing on equal points with Burners.
It came as heartbreak for Burners who thought they qualified after beating Kings in 15 overs on Sunday. The crushing win took them ahead of Kings on net run rate and it was believed to be enough.
From local media to the official broadcaster and BPL website all said that Barisal were through to semi-final on net run rate as both teams are equal on head-to-head count having won one game each.
Barisal were told they will go to the semi-final on run rate if they can top Chittagong’s 150 runs in 16 overs and they did more than that thanks to a swashbuckling innings from captain Brad Hodge who made 67 off 36 balls.
But the BPL governing council on Monday said if three or more teams have equal points head-to-head record of all three teams will come into force. The clause of 21.8 ( 2) of the bylaws said: ‘ When three or more teams finish with equal points and equal wins in the league, the team (s) which
was (were) the winner of the most number of matches played between those equal teams in the league will be placed in the higher position (s)’.
According to the rule Dhaka have three wins (two against Barisal and one against Chittagong), Chittagong have two wins (one against Dhaka and one against Barisal) while Barisal have just one win against Chittagong.
In that count the match between Khulna and Sylhet Royals became irrelevant as the formers have already four wins against Dhaka, Chittagong and Barisal which gave them second position in the points table behind Rajshahi.
Dhaka finished third and Chittagong ended up fourth with Barisal left out according to the rule. When it was announced in the stadium it created confusion, which forced BPL governing council chairman Gazi Ashraf Hossain to give an explanation.
‘According to the rule Rajshahi, Khulna, Dhaka and Chittagong are through,’ he said.
Asked if it is the rule then why were Barisal told that they have qualified, Ashraf said the BPL governing council never informed Barisal officially about it.
‘We are not supposed to tell a team if they have qualified or not. The rule is there for everyone to read it,’ he said.
When it was pointed out that BPL official website mentioned Barisal as a semi-finalist, Ashraf said that was a mistake.
A stunned Barisal said they will consider further course of action once they get the official list of semi-final line up.
-With New Age input
