The spotlight will be on the battle between defending champions Abahani and Gazi Tank when the second round of the Premier Division Cricket League starts today at the three different venues.
Mashrafe Bin Mortaza-led Abahani will definitely try to take revenge of their eight-wicket defeat to the Premiership newcomers in last week's Twenty20 semifinal when they lock horns with his national team boss Mohammad Ashraful'sl side at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur.
In recent times, the league has witnessed big match in the early stage as most of the newcomers came up with big names and Gazi Tank, following the footsteps of DOHS and Sonargaon Cricketers, roped in national skipper Ashraful, opener Imrul Kayes and paceman Rubel Hossain on their debut.
That was the reason Abahani considered it a vital match in their attempt to retain the title and have decided to bring in veteran Indian batsman Amol Muzumdar for this game.
The 34-year old right-hander Amol was expected to arrive in the capital last night to strengthen Abahani's middle order. The Dhanmondi-based club made a flying start by winning their first game against CCS at the same venue, thanks to a rare 200-run opening partnership by Tamim Iqbal and Rony Talukdar.
The team's think-tank, worried over their middle order batting, considered Amol for only one game as all-rounder Venugopal Rao -- who has played 16 one-day internationals for India -- will join the team for the rest of the matches.
The name of Amol Muzumdar is not new for ardent cricket followers in the country but one has to go thirteen years down the memory lane to recall a then promising Indian batsman. The Mumbai ace played just one match for Mohammedan against Biman in the 1994-95 Damal Smriti tournament where his match winning half-century on a very tricky pitch is still fresh in many minds.
Gazi have also hired little known Indian batsman Pravanjan Mullick who made a half-century in the first game against Biman but still, Ashraful's boys lost the game by five wickets.
"I think we have the strength to beat Abahani. Our main challenge would be to make an early breakthrough because Tamim (Iqbal) and Rony (Talukdar) are both dangerous batsmen," said national team and Gazi Tank captain Ashraful.
On the other hand, his national team deputy Mashrafe, now the central attraction in the cricket fraternity following his whopping 600,000 deal in the Indian Premier League (IPL), is looking forward to play a good match.
"I think Gazi Tank are a very good side and they beat us in the Twenty20 semifinal. We are looking forward to play a good match tomorrow. We need to play our natural game to continue the winning run," said the Bangladesh vice-captain.
Biman take on Young Pegasus at BKSP while Mohammedan face Partex at Fatullah in the day's other fixtures.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment