Dhaka Gladiators will be looking to make a winning start when they face Khulna Royal Bengals in their opening match of the maiden Bangladesh Premier League Twenty20 at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium today. Both the franchises contain former skippers of the national team. The men in orange, Gladiators will be led Mashrafee bin Murtaza alongside team’s icon player and another former national skipper Mohammad Ashraful, while their opponents, Khulna Royal Bengals, will be captained by the world number one all-rounder and former Tigers captain, Sakib al Hasan.
Ahead of their afternoon match, the Gladiators had all their players to practise together for the first time on Friday, Their head coach Ian Pont said that they have a good squad and it will be hard for them to pick the playing eleven.
‘We have got a really good squad. It’s going to be a tough job to pick the playing eleven as everyone is in good form,’ said Pont.
‘We will keep an eye on the two matches today (Friday) and will decide how we want to sketch our team for tomorrow (today),’ he added.
Both Gladiators and Royal Bengals have a balanced team on paper but Pont said it will only reflect on the field through performance.
Pont, former bowling coach of the Bangladesh national team, believes that the local players will perform for them which will be the key.
‘On paper there are some very balanced and strong sides and Dhaka Gladiators are one of them but you don’t play on paper, rather you play on grass.
‘The tournament is about Bangladesh cricket, so I think the local players will perform for us,’ said Pont.
Dhaka Gladiators are expected to have a lot of crowd support for them as they are playing in Dhaka, and the team will also be heavily dependent on the performance of their West Indian recruit Keiron Pollard.
The all-rounder joined the side on Thursday and had only one practice session but does not think it’ll be a problem for him.
‘I have been playing cricket for the last four months and also played in Big Bash. So I don’t think it will be a problem.
‘I just need to fit myself in the team and it’s just a matter of time that I will get to know my team-mates,’ said Pollard.
Pollard will have his compatriot Shivnarine Chanderpaul as his opponent and he thinks that Chanderpaul’s experience, along with Sakib’s will deliver a good match between the two sides.
‘Both players (Sakib al Hasan and Shivnarine Chanderpaul) are talented and are proven performers in the international arena. They will share their experiences and hopefully we will have a good game tomorrow.’
‘At the end of the day, the side that plays better cricket will walk out victorious no matter what names you have in the line-up,’ said the aggressive all-rounder Pollard.
-With New Age input
