Indomitable Comilla Victorians and the favourites Sylhet Strikers will lock horn in the high voltage final of the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) final today.
The match will kick off at 6:30pm following a concert will be staged by local bands and singers will start at 3pm.
However, the final of the BPL 2023 promises to be an exciting one when undoubtedly two strong sides of the tournament will embark to lift the title.
Led by an inspirational Mashrafe Bin Mortaza, the most successful skipper of the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL), Sylhet Strikers remain hopeful of clinching their maiden trophy.
The reigning champions Comilla Victorians will fight to retain the title when Sylhet Strikers eyeing to celebrate the maiden title of the biggest franchise show in Bangladesh.
Both sides would feel responsible for making sure and certainly have the equal prospect of winning the final.
In procession some of the batters and the bowlers of both sides are at the top of the order, and rightly so after a hugely impressive set-up to play exciting cricket.
But it is something very doubtful that who would be the dominant, ideally suited to the slow, low pitches, the more spin-friendly challenges at the Shere-e-Bangla National Stadium could be an important ahead of England of Bangladesh tour in March.
Comilla Victorians, who have Litton Das, Sunil Narine Moeen Ali, Zaker Zaker Ali, Andre Russel any of a couple of batters, bowlers or all-rounder are very much capable to change the scenario of a match.
Comilla Victorians obviously highly inspired by their previous match against Sylhet when they dominated in both bowling and batting department to book the table toppers on only a paltry 125 runs in 20 overs.
The defending champions Comilla, though lost their six wickets to win the match but chased the moderate target 3.2 overs to spare.
On the other hands, led by Mashrafe bin Mortaza, Strikers are morally high, as they have been dominating the points table throughout the competition.
As a skipper Mashrafe has not only an envious record in international cricket, he has also a record to cherish in BPL. The lanky paceman led the different sides to BPL champions for highest four times-in fact all of the four titles led by him came in the first five editions.
Mashrafe led Dhaka Gladiators twice (2012, 2013) to clinch the coveted trophy and then he won it for Comilla Victorians (2015) and Rangpur Riders (2017).
Mashrafe however didn’t lose any final and so Sylhet franchise who would play the BPL final for the first time, stayed upbeat to lift it.
Sylhet moreover were more hopeful due to how Mashrafe’s captaincy itself helped the side move to the final when everyone wrote them off after the Players’ draft.
They were in fact formed with some aged players and young players who haven’t had the reputation to stand tall in the big tournament. But Mashrafe’s magic tough turned those youngsters a match-winner one, with Towhid Hridoy, Zakir Hasan, Tanzim Hasan Sakib playing the crucial role in taking the side to the final.
“No, there is no magic. Allah has been kind to us and the players tried to play their best, so it happened,” Mashrafe said. However, he remains alert ahead of the final, saying that he didn’t lose any final game as of now doesn’t mean that he would win every final.
“It’s final so we can’t take any risk. We can’t be complacent by thinking that Mashrafe didn’t lose any final match. We have to give our best.”
Like Mashrafe, Comilla’s captain Imrul Kayes also didn’t lose any final game, though he played the most crucial game twice just.
“Comilla are the most consistent side in this tournament but that doesn’t mean, we’ll be no match against them. If we play our best cricket, and win the key moments, we can win the trophy. But again, I said, I have no magic touch. The boys played well so far and I want them to fire again for just one more match.”
After winning 10 matches in a row, Comilla knew a bad day can come and ruin their hopes. They however hope they will not be victimized by that ‘law of average’ in the most crucial game of the tournament.
“We’ll try to play our best game. If we can come up with the game that we have been playing so far, we hope we can win the title,” Comilla’s skipper Imrul Kayes said. If Comilla win the title today, they will be most successful franchise in BPL solely, ousting Dhaka franchise, which under the name of Dhaka Gladiators and Dhaka Dynamites won the title thrice.
