Dhaka – Former Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) champions Dhaka Dynamites will seek to maintain their winning streak when they face Khulna Titans as the league will resume on Tuesday after a one-day recess at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Mirpur.Dynamites made a flying start outplaying Rajshahi Kings by 83 runs in their first match on the opening day on Saturday.
On the other hand, Titans are looking forward to registering their first win in the season. Dhaka Dynamites Afghan recruit Hazratullah Zazai played a superb knock that paved way for them to an ideal start to the tournament.
Relying on the 116 runs in the opening stand of Zazai and Sunil Narine, Dynamites posted a challenging total of 189 which proved to be too good for Rajshahi, which wrapped in for 106 all-out. Rubel Hossain, the national pace-star, took three wickets for Dynamites and ensured a big win for the former champions.
“We won the first match of BPL on a dominative manner which will surely help us in the next matches. Our preparations for the next match are really well. We’re confident to do better,” Shuvagata Hom, the Dynamites off-spinning all-rounder, told reporters during the practice session on Monday.
Before the Wednesday’s clash with Khulna Titans, Dhaka Dynamites suffered an injury blow as their wicketkeeper-batsman Nurul Hasan Shohan injured his head while stepping down the stairs in the team hotel. He might not be available on Wednesday.
Khulna Titans lost the first match to current BPL champions Rangpur Riders. They went close to beat the champions but fell short by eight runs while replying Riders’ 169 what they posted riding on a superb knock of unbeaten 76 by Rilee Rossouw.
Despite the defeat in the first match, Khulna captain Mahmudulla Riyad expressed optimism saying the first match will not harm their confidence.
“It would be very early to say (that the defeat in the first match could ruin the confidence). In the tournaments like BPL, every match is challenging. You can see every team of the contest is strong. So the success depends on how we react in the field. I think we need to focus on our aggressive manner. We try our best to turn the fate in the next game,” Mahmudllah Riyad said at the end of the first match.
“Our next game is against Dynamites who are really a balanced team and they won their first game as well. But we focus on our own game,” Mahmudllah added.UNB
