dhaka gladiators - Dhaka Mirror

Salim dubs Ash a man-of-street

Admin — Fri, 07 Jun 2013 10:47:12 +0000

Dhaka Gladiators owner Salim Chowdhury labelled suspended national captain Mohammad Ashraful as a man-of-street and insisted that one cannot say him
guilty based on the statement of the cricketer.
‘Listen, if a man-of-street claims that I am convicted and I am criminal, that doesn’t make any sense. Concrete proof is needed otherwise no one can put blame on me,’ Salim told reporters at his office on Thursday in his first public statement since he was linked with match-fixing scandal.
‘I don’t know what Ashraful told to the ACSU. Ashraful himself admitted that he was involved in match-fixing since 2004. As I don’t know and not sure what he told, I can’t tell anything regarding this. If Ashraful had given up the match, we can’t tell that,’ he said.
Salim’s name came in the media widely for alluring Ashraful to lose the Gladiators’ matches against Chittagong Kings and Barisal Burners in the Bangladesh Premier League.
It was alleged that Salim had picked Ashraful in his side after he only agreed to listen to such request, which he had insisted will help the side pay the players. Salim allegedly paid Ashraful a cheque for Tk 10 lakh which, however, had bounced back.
Salim denied his involvement in the entire issue and rather shifted the blame on Ashraful, who he said was a suspect to them from the very beginning of the tournament. He claimed that Ashraful himself insisted to become captain so that he can satisfy the bookies.
‘We suspected Ashraful to fix matches against Chittagong Kings and Barisal Burners. We also had doubt over Tilkaratne Dilshan and reported immediately to the ACSU man on the field.
‘But he said not to shout over the issue otherwise the media could make the issue bigger,’ said Salim.
‘All of the Dhaka players knew that Ashraful fixed the matches and the foreign players threatened not to play if Ashraful is in the team. I became angry when I saw he was killing the game but the ACSU men cooled me.
‘The same thing was scripted in the match against Barisal Burners. I rebuked Ashraful in front of Mashrafee and the team manager. Players knew the incident. I decided not to play him in the next match but we had to drop the idea because the media could sense something wrong.
‘However, we made him ineffective by playing him at number eight in the batting order. We made him captain against Barisal as he requested us and all the players to give him the chance to lead the side as he wants to prove himself,’ said Salim.
The Gladiators owners sensed a conspiracy against the BPL and said the ACSU investigation could be a part of it.
‘I talked to the ACSU at the ICC headquarters in Dubai,’ he said. ‘They told me “listen Ashraful has confessed all and sought apologies to the nation. If you have something to say, you may tell. We may rethink about you if you admit all. Otherwise BPL could be over”.
‘I answered what they asked but simultaneously I also challenged them when they said the BPL could be over. I questioned them why the BPL will be over? Why you people have the headache over the BPL? You have nothing to do with the BPL. Who are you to stop the BPL? Their quizzing style was enough to suspect them,’ he said.
‘Everything seems mysterious to me. When the IPL issue rocked the cricket world, it came to the surface. I suspect may be this is part of a conspiracy to suppress the IPL scandal,’ he said.

-With New Age input

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Gladiators break silence

Admin — Thu, 06 Jun 2013 09:09:45 +0000

Dhaka Gladiators, one of the prime accused in the ongoing match-fixing scandal, have broken its silence saying that it will accept punishment if it is proven guilty of
match-fixing that has rocked the country’s cricketing.
Gladiators also admitted that its chairman Salim Chowdhury, who according to media reports instigated the ban on former national captain Mohammad Ashraful for match-fixing, was yet to be interrogated by the Anti Corruption and Security Unit of the International Cricket Committee.
‘It is reported in a newspaper today that Dhaka Gladiators chairman Salim Chowdhury attended hearing with the ACSU in Bangkok but it is not true,’ Gladiators said in a statement on Wednesday.
‘Salim Chowdhury was on a business trip when the ACSU team visited Dhaka in the past week. When he failed to attend the meeting, the managing director of the franchise, Shiahb Chowdhury, met the ACSU team for a hearing.
‘The Dhaka Gladiators chairman contacted the ICC by himself after learning that he was being looked for,’ the statement said.
Gladiators also brushed aside the media report that said that a person by the name of Ali Akbar, who is the CEO of the Europa Group, had also been interrogated by the ACSU team.
‘Please note that there is no employee in Europa named Ali Akbar and the ACSU has never questioned any of the employees of Europa,’ the statement said.
‘It was only the managing director of the team, Shihab Chowdhury, who was called up for hearing by the ACSU team. No comments can, however, be made at this point as the issue is still under investigation,’ he said.
Gladiators also criticised some former cricketers and administrators for making remarks against the side in television talk shows.
‘A day ago, former national team and Dhaka Gladiators manager Shafique-ul Huque Heera told a television channel that ‘he left Dhaka Gladiators after the season because he felt that the owners are involved in wrongdoings of the game”,’ the statement said.
‘But in fact it was Dhaka Gladiators’ decision not to hire him for the second season for professional reasons. There were many occasion when Heera contacted the franchise through e-mail and over telephone before the second season to try to retain his post in the team.
‘On the other hand, in the same talk show, former Bangladesh Cricket Board director engineer Mobassher Hossain said that the board should have sold the BPL teams to those who have a background in sports.
‘This is to clarify that Dhaka Gladiators chairman Salim Chowdhury is a former basketball player of Khulna Abahani Limited and is a lifetime member of the club.
‘He is also the current vice-president of the Bangladesh Basketball Federation and has been involved with the game for the past 10 years.
‘Dhaka Gladiators owners will accept punishment if proved guilty. But it then requests all to not publish information without verification as has been done which is tarnishing the image of the franchisee owner,’ it said.

-With New Age input

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Champions League T20 sans Dhaka Gladiators

Admin — Sat, 13 Apr 2013 03:28:00 +0000

Two-time Bangladesh Premier League champions Dhaka Gladiators were left out of the Champions League for the second season in a row as the organisers of the private
Twenty20 tournament announced the line-up on Friday.
Ten teams were divided into two groups with the top two finishers in each group making the semi-finals of the tournament, which is jointly owned by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), Cricket Australia (CA) and Cricket South Africa (CSA).
Eight teams have been seeded directly into the main draw and they will be joined by two of the four qualifiers for the next edition of the tournament, to be held in India from September 17 to October 6.
The Gladiators were eyeing a berth in the competition but could not even make it as one of the qualifiers despite no available teams from England and Wales while Pakistani side Faisalabad Wolves were chosen in the qualification category after winning the Faysal Bank Super Eight T20 Cup.
The Gladiators were optimistic about getting an opportunity after they had a fruitful meeting with the International Cricket Council chief executive David Richardson on March 17 at its Dubai headquarters.
They were expected to hold another meeting with tournament committee chairman N Srinivasan to discuss about their possibility.
The competition was launched in 2008 with the first edition held in October 2009 and is currently chaired by Srinivasan, who is also president of the BCCI.
But the high profile franchise of the BPL, who were expecting a call from the organisers of the CL T20, were not even considered to sit across the table to put up their case that had made the Gladiators management very disappointed.
‘I don’t see any logic behind not selecting us in the CL T20,’ Shihab Chowdhury, the managing director of the Gladiators, told reporters on Friday.
‘We were expected to meet the chairman of CLT20 but could not do so and all of a sudden we came to know about the participant teams, it really put us down,’ said Shihab.
Shihab added that it would make them think twice before making a team for the next edition of the BPL with a high budget if they were deprived of the opportunity to showcase their strength in the CLT20, an annual international cricket competition in which the top domestic teams from the major cricketing nations take part – apart from Zimbabwe and Bangladesh.
‘We had our eyes firmly set to compete in the tournament (CLT20) and in order to do so we had built a star-studded team to retain the championship of the BPL,’ said Shihab.
‘But if this trend in CLT20 continues in future we would certainly not spend so much money,’ he added
The West Indian champions, who had to play the qualifiers in the last two editions, will feature in the main draw while Pakistani side Faisalabad Wolves’ participation in the tournament will be interesting given the fragile diplomatic and sporting ties between India and Pakistan.
Trinidad & Tobago found a place in the main draw, after sustained public pressure following strong performances in previous seasons. They had finished runners-up in the inaugural edition in 2009, and won the qualifiers in 2011 and 2012 to secure their berth.
The ECB’s announcement that no teams from England will take part in this year’s competition has opened up slots for other domestic teams.
CL TEAMS
Group A: IPL 1st ranked team (India), Highveld Lions (South Africa), Perth Scorchers (Australia), IPL 3rd ranked team (India), Q1 (Qualifier).
Group B: IPL 2nd ranked team (India), Nashua Titans (South Africa), Brisbane Heat (Australia), Trinidad & Tobago (West Indies), Q2 (Qualifier).
Qualifiers: IPL 4th ranked team (India), Otago Volts (New Zealand), Sri Lanka qualifier, Faisalabad Wolves (Pakistan).

-With New Age input

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Gayle back to his supreme best

Admin — Sat, 16 Feb 2013 17:13:05 +0000

The demon in Chris Gayle is back and back in some style to create a storm in the Bangladesh Premier League that destroyed Sylhet Royals in the race-to-final against Dhaka Gladiators on Friday.
In an astonishing display of power-hitting, Gayle rained down 12 sixes to stroke a swashbuckling 114 from 51 balls, which powered the Gladiators to 197-9.
Gayle came into this game with just 18 runs to his name in four one-day internationals against Australia and his recent history in Bangladesh was also not very encouraging.
The powerful Jamaican began his poor run when he had accumulated only 88 runs in the Test series against Bangladesh in November and followed it with 72 runs in five one-day internationals and only six in the one-off Twenty20 game.
Gladiators turned to Gayle despite his dip in form and what a way he repaid them. In a game that was heading towards their opposition with Gladiators on 64-5, Gayle caused a huge turnaround to stun Sylhet Royals.
Gayle, playing for Barisal Burners, had scored a century against the same Royals in the opening match of the BPL’s inaugural edition, an innings which destroyed their confidence completely.
It had so much demoralising effect on Royals that they had to wait for eight matches to get their first win in the BPL in its first edition. Unlike the previous edition it has happened now in the race-to-final, which was effectively a semi-final.
Royals have still another chance to make it to the final, but after being at the receiving end of such a disdainful hammering it remained to be seen if they can overcome the shock.
Not even in their worst nightmare, Royals could imagine that it was coming in this match. Even after they had completed their first 10 overs of bowling, Royals had no idea how Gayle was going to change everything so quickly.
Amid a freefall of wickets from the other end, Gayle had to remain watchful in the first 13 overs. But once he saw Sohrawardi Shuvo providing juicy balls in the 14th, he decided to take it all and hit three sixes taking 24 runs from that over.
It earned him his fifty from 36 balls and believe it or not he needed just 10 more balls to get into his century, uncharacteristically with a half-hearted single off a Nazmul Hossain Milon delivery.
This was his third century in the BPL in just six matches, spanning over two seasons. He gave the BPL a kick-start with his first century in the first season and with his third one he provided the X-factor that was badly missing in the second season.
No other batsman in the world has the power to do it, at least in this way, you bet!

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Gladiators in final after winning cliffhanger

Admin — Sat, 16 Feb 2013 17:10:50 +0000

Chris Gayle struck a powerful century but Dhaka Gladiators still suffered a scare before reaching their second consecutive final in the Bangladesh Premier League in Dhaka on Friday.
The holders beat Sylhet Royals by just four runs in a roller-coaster race-to-final despite Gayle making 114 from 51 balls to power them to 197-9 in their 20 overs.
Mushfiqur Rahim provided an answer to Gayle’s buccaneering batting and had nearly turned the table before his unexpected run-out for 86 from 44 balls in the last over did the damage.
Needing 24 runs in the dramatic last over, Elton Chigumbura hit two sixes in the first two balls and saw the bowler Mashrafee bin Murtaza bowl a wide and no-ball that took them in sight of an unexpected win.
After Mushfiq was run out Royals had still their chance when Roqibul Hasan dropped Chigumbura in the fifth ball to make the equation five runs in the last ball. But the Zimbabwean could only manage to give a catch to Darren Stevens in the last ball to end the game in heartbreak.
Royals have another chance left to book their place in the February 19 final as they will face the losers between Chittagong
Kings and Duronto Rajshahi in today’s first eliminator.
The bowlers had given Royals an upper hand by reducing Gladiators to 68-5 inside 10 overs, but Gayle changed everything with his sheer power that saw the holders plunder an astonishing 129 runs in the last 10 overs.
Royals had opened the bowling with Sohag Gazi and he bowled Tillakaratne Dilshan in the first ball and Mohammad Ashraful followed the Sri Lankan in the next over to make the scoreline 1-2.
Sakib, fresh from his third half-century on Thursday night against Kings, struck Sohag for four sixes to make 38 from 20 balls to give Gladiators some momentum, but his dismissal by Sajidul Islam seemed to have ruined their all hopes.
But Gayle was still there and he showed it again what he is capable of.
Gayle raced to his fifty from 36 balls, hitting Sohrawardi Shuvo for 24 in an over before giving Nazmul Hossain his worst nightmare. Gayle struck him for four consecutive sixes to close in on his third BPL century and the first this season in his very first appearance.
Paul Stirling missed a simple chance with Gayle on 97, the batsman’s only nervous moment, which came three balls before he completed his century in 46 balls.
Mohammad Nabi finally ended his onslaught as Sohag Gazi took the catch at deep square-leg and Gladiators could add just six runs in the remaining 10 balls after his departure.

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Gayle, Gazi resume rivalry

Admin — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 16:00:59 +0000

Gladiators face Royals in race-to-final, BPL play-off today
Dhaka Gladiators’ new recruit Chris Gayle and Sylhet Royals’ off-spinner Sohag Gazi will resume their rivalry once again when the two teams clash with each other in the race-to-final qualifier of the Bangladesh Premier League on Friday. Gayle and Gazi recently faced off in a bilateral series when West Indies toured Bangladesh for two Test matches, three one-day internationals and one T20.
Gayle briefly started well after pounding Gazi for 18 runs in the opening over on the first day of the first Test. Gazi, however, bounced back exceedingly well to dismiss Gayle twice in the Tests and once in the ODIs to make him his ‘bunny’, a term often used to undermine an opposition player.
Gayle was unable to live up to his reputation as he struggled against the off-spinner and the marauding Jamaican was considered as a huge flop throughout the tour.
Gazi is once again expected to give Gayle a tough time like he did in the recent West Indies series and his team-mates at Sylhet Royals will bank on him to put pressure on Gayle, who is expected to open for the Gladiators.
‘I want to put him under pressure in the same manner as I did against him in the series,’ said Sohag.
‘I just don’t want him to come out of his shackles as that will allow him to set terms of the game,’ he added.
To bolster the strength of their batting at the upper order, Gladiators are flying in Gayle and another gem in T20 cricket, Kieron Pollard.
The two players were expected to reach Dhaka on a Singapore Airlines flight at 8:50pm on Thursday.
Skipper Mashrafee bin Murtaza is expecting the duo to shine in the same manner as their overseas players Shahid Afridi and Saeed Ajmal did in the last edition.
‘I think they will add strength to the team,’ said Mashrafee.
‘Definitely it’s a big match as a win will ensure a spot in the final and big players like them rise up on this sort of occasion,’ said Mashrafee.
‘I expect a similar feat from the duo as we had received from Afridi and Ajmal in the last edition,’ said Mashrafee.
‘But to win the match others will have to fulfil their duty and I expect that as everyone is on a good nick,’ he added.
Sylhet Royals coach Mohammad Salahuddin suggested his charges not to put too much emphasis on Gayle and Pollard as he feels Gladiators are a very strong team with or without the duo.
‘I don’t want to put extra emphasis on Gayle and Pollard as there are a lot of match winners in the Gladiators squad and we need to keep an eye on every player rather than any individual,’ said Salahuddin.
The winners of the race-to-final qualifier will go straight to the final, while the losers will have another opportunity to book a place in the final by beating the winners of the second eliminator, to be played between Chittagong Kings and Duronto Rajshahi on Saturday.
Both the teams won against each other in the group phase as the Royals defeated the Gladiators by seven wickets in Khulna while the Gladiators took their revenge in Chittagong when they defeated them by 31 runs.

-With New Age input

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Burners shock holders to stay alive

Admin — Wed, 13 Feb 2013 16:36:11 +0000

Barisal Burners kept their hopes alive for a place in the last four of the Bangladesh Premier League when they handed holders Dhaka Gladiators a seven-wicket thrashing in Dhaka on Tuesday.
Azhar Mahmood and Alauddin Babu shared six wickets between them to dismiss Gladiators for a bellow-par 114 before Brad Hodge smashed an unbeaten 70 off 44 balls to steer his side home for their fourth win.
Burners still lie sixth in the table but they have two games in hand in the league stage unlike the other contenders for the last four.
If they can win both of their remaining matches, against Sylhet Royals and Rangpur Riders respectively, they can very well progress to the elimination round.
Gladiators, who are already assured of a place in the top-two, started slowly to reach 49 runs in 9.4 overs before Elias Sunny dismissed Tillakaratne Dilshan (32 off 35 balls) for Burners’ first breakthrough.
The run out of Sakib al Hasan and Mohammad Ashraful did not help them either as they kept on losing wickets at regular intervals before being folded in the final over of their innings.
Ashraful could add just 20 off 31 balls to his century in the previous game while Anamul made 23 off 17 balls to be the only Gladiators batsman to maintain a decent strike rate.
Alauddin Babu, playing his first game in the tournament, took 3-24, but the pick of Burners bowlers was Azhar Mahmood, who conceded just seven runs for his three victims.
Burners reached 117-3 in just 13.3 overs as Sabbir Rahman (25 not out) added 68 runs in the unbroken fourth wicket stand with Hodge, who has now struck his fourth fifty in the tournament.

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Royals thrash KRB to confirm top-two finish

Admin — Wed, 13 Feb 2013 16:34:38 +0000

Sylhet Royals joined Dhaka Gladiators in the qualifiers for the final in the Bangladesh Premier League after they trounced Khulna Royal Bengals by a huge 61-run margin at Mirpur on Tuesday.
The win, which was backed by two half centuries from Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Paul Sterling, took the Royals’ tally to 16 points from 11 matches, which means they are guaranteed a spot in the top two.
Unlike the first edition, the tournament has no semi-finals – rather a qualifier and two eliminators which will decide the two finalists.
The top two teams will play in the qualifier and the winners will move into the final while the losers will play against the victors between the third and fourth placed teams for a berth in the final.
It means the Royals will get two chances to confirm a place in the final like Gladiators, who beat the same side a day earlier to confirm their berth in the qualifier.
The already eliminated Khulna Royal Bengals have now completed their tally of 12 league matches with three wins against nine defeats which confined them to the bottom of the points table.
The match virtually turned into a no-contest after Royals put 196- 3, riding on Chanderpaul’s 66 off 51 balls and Sterling’s 66 off 39 balls, and then reduced Khulna Royal Bengals to 4-31 inside five overs.
Wicketkeeper Mithun Ali scored 60 off 47 balls to delay the inevitable as Khulna Royal Bengals ended their chase on 135-7. Afghan off-spinner Mohammad Nabi was the pick of the Royals bowlers with 3-28, which took him to third among the highest wicket takers with 14 wickets from 11 matches.
BRIEF SCORES
Sylhet Royals 196-3 in 20 overs (S Chanderpaul 66, P Stirling 66, NH Milon 36 not out) v Khulna Royal Bengals 135-7 in 20 overs (M Ali 60, MS Wessels 26 not out; M Nabi 3-28, E Chigumbura 2-18).
Result: Sylhet Royals won by 61 runs.
Man of the match: P Stirling (SR).

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Ton-up Ashraful takes Gladiators to top-two

Admin — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 16:58:45 +0000

Mohammad Ashraful returned to his best to score his first ever Twenty20 century and guide Dhaka Gladiators to a six-wicket win over Khulna Royal Bengals in the Bangladesh Premier League in Dhaka on Monday.
Gladiators, riding on Ashraful’s unbeaten 103 from 58 balls, raced to 180-4 to confirm their top-two finish in league phase, which has an added significance because of the tournament format.
Unlike the first edition, the tournament has no semi-finals – rather a qualifier and two eliminators will decide the two finalists. The top two teams will play in the qualifier and the winners will move into the final while the losers will play against the victors between the third and fourth teams for a place in the final.
It means Gladiators, who have now 16 points from 10 matches and cannot be overtaken by any other side, apart from Sylhet Royals, will get now at least two chances to make it to the final.
They have their captain on the day Ashraful to thank for taking them to this position after he kept his cool to see them through despite an unexpected collapse in the middle-order.
Chasing Khulna Royal Bengals’ 176-6, Gladiators at one stage lost Tillakaratne Dilshan, Sakib al Hasan and Anamul Haque in three consecutive overs to stutter at 45-3.
Ashraful not only steadied their innings, but also kept the scoreboard ticking without allowing any pressure to build on his side. Joshua Cobb provided the initial support with 31 from 30 balls before Darren Stevens (36 from 21 balls) gave the finishing touch.
Khulna Royal Bengals were left ruing for dropping Ashraful on 47 and 94 runs, which could have made the result different. Wicketkeeper Mohammad Mithun was guilty on first occasion before Ashraful had completed his fifty from 27 balls.
Sanjamul Islam had the chance to deny Ashraful his century when he dived to his left at long-off to take what could have been the catch of the tournament. But he could only touch the ball with his hand and Ashraful soon reached his milestone with a boundary from a misfielding.
The century has made Ashraful, who struck 14 fours and two sixes, only the second batsman to get a hundred in the BPL-2 after Shahriar Nafees and the first by a batsman of a side batting second.
Royal Bengals’ Travis Birt could have joined his team-mate Shahriar before Ashraful after he batted sensibly to bail his side out from a top-order collapse. But he had to remain content with 94 not out, hitting six fours and as many sixes.
After Khulna lost their openers for 10 runs, Birt added 120 runs with Jehan Mubarak (65 from 43 balls) to take the side to a respectable position which, however, was not enough.
BRIEF SCORES
Khulna Royal Bengals 176-6 in 20 overs (TR Birt 94 not out, J Mubarak 65; A Thomas 3-34, Sakib al Hasan 2-24) v Dhaka Gladiators 180-4 in 19.2 overs (M Ashraful 103 not out, D Stevens 36 not out, J Cobb 31).
Result: Dhaka Gladiators won by 6 wickets.
Man of the match: M Ashraful (DG).

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Sakib show sinks Burners

Admin — Sun, 10 Feb 2013 11:15:23 +0000

Ace all-rounder Sakib al Hasan produced a masterful performance with both bat and ball to enable Dhaka Gladiators to a straightforward eight-wicket win over Barisal Burners in the Bangladesh Premier League at Mirpur on Saturday.
Besides grabbing 2-22 with the leather, Sakib blasted 54 runs from 31 balls as Dhaka reached their target of 115 for the loss of only two wickets with 44 deliveries to spare. Sakib’s innings featured seven sweetly-timed boundaries and a six and he was ably supported by Sri Lankan recruit Tillakaratne Dilshan, who was unbeaten at the end with 49 from 39 balls.
With 14 points from nine games, Gladiators move to joint-top in the standings along with Sylhet Royals while the Burners are languishing in sixth place with six points from nine games, their semi-final hopes diminishing fast.
The Burners would have been disappointed with their modest total after electing to bat first after winning the toss. Azhar Mahmood was their highest scorer with 30 runs off 33 balls as the Burners could gather only 114-9 in their stipulated 20 overs.
Mashrafee bin Murtaza (2-30), Alfonso Thomas (2-31), Sakib and Chris Liddle (2-16) shared eight wickets between them to restrict the Burners and with such a sedate total, there was no hope for Barisal of salvaging anything from the game.

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