Rajshahi Kings, one among two franchises in the money-spinning Bangladesh Premier League Twenty20 2016-17 season with new ownership, finished runners-up following their defeat against the star-studded Dhaka Dynamites in the final in Mirpur’s Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium last Friday. But the Rajshahi players should hold their head high as they played some memorable cricket throughout the tournament, showing great team spirit to overcome difficulties and snatching wins from the jaws of defeat during the month-long competition.
Rajshahi captain Darren Sammy led from the front, be it with the bat, ball or his captaincy DHAKA TRIBUNECaptain Darren Sammy, the two-time World T20 winning captain of the West Indies, played a fantastic role, inspiring the team, be it with his captaincy, batting or bowling, whenever it was needed. Sammy always said in the post- or pre-match press conferences that he wants to play passionate cricket. He said he always asks his players to play with passion. Sammy also successfully transferred the motto of “never-say-die” attitude upon his team mates. And the players did exactly what the captain demanded. In some matches, Rajshahi were in trouble and on the verge of defeat, but from such situations, Rajshahi managed to bounce back to win in style.
In a couple of matches, they were close to winning but failed. With that said, their fighting spirit was clearly evident and that’s the main reason why Rajshahi reached the final in the end. When the tournament got underway, Rajshahi managed to win only one out of their first five matches. At that stage, they were at the bottom of the points table. But the team members believed in themselves and won seven out of their next nine matches to reach the grand finale.
Rajshahi's Sabbir Rahman struck the only century of BPL 4 DHAKA TRIBUNEThere are many positives for Rajshahi to take out from this year's BPL. Sabbir Rahman’s century against Barisal Bulls was the only hundred of the tournament. Unfortunately, Rajshahi lost that match but Sabbir’s 122-run innings off just 61 balls is regarded one of the best T20 innings by a Bangladesh batsman. Youngster Mehedi Hasan Miraz was impressive with the ball throughout the tournament. Another youngster Afif Hossain surprised everyone by claiming the best debut bowling figure in T20 history (5-21), against Chittagong Vikings. In the Eliminator, Sammy played an outstanding innings to lift his team from the brink of defeat. Samit Patel’s two man-of-the-match performances against Dhaka in the round robin stage were also memorable for Rajshahi. So there are several positives for Rajshahi from the tournament which will help them to proceed forward next year.
Local players
Rajshahi youngster Afif Hossain took the BPL 4 by storm picking up five wickets on his Twenty20 debut DHAKA TRIBUNESabbir’s century was the best innings of the tournament. The right-hander scored 377 runs in 15 innings at an average of 26.92. But the top-order batsmen should have been more consistent. Mominul Haque was in form with the bat and proved his credential in this format with 331 runs in 15 innings. With the ball, Miraz was impressive from the very beginning while Afif also bowled well, especially in the latter parts of the innings. Paceman Abul Hasan Raju picked up five wickets in their first match but later lost his place in the playing XI having taken 12 wickets in 10 innings. All-rounder Farhad Reza was also impressive, bagging 14 wickets.
Foreign players
Rajshahi's English all-rounder was a picture of consistency for his side right throughout the tournament DHAKA TRIBUNEEnglish all-rounder Patel was in good form. He scored 288 runs and took 11 wickets. Sammy's captaincy was impressive while he also led the team from the front with the bat. Sammy scored 276 runs in 14 runs at a staggering strike rate of 174.68. New Zealand all-rounder James Franklin scored some valuable runs for Rajshahi in the latter stages of the tournament. West Indies pacer Kesrick Williams was productive with the ball, especially in the playoffs. But Pakistan batsman Umar Akmal flopped with the willow. The highly-rated batsman managed to score only 106 runs in nine innings and was eventually dropped from the playing XI.
Squad
Local players
Abul Hasan (all-rounder), Delwar Hossain (bowler), Ebadat Hossain (bowler), Farhad Reza (all-rounder), Mehedi Hasan Miraz (all-rounder), Mominul Haque (batsman), Nazmul Islam (bowler), Nurul Hasan (wicketkeeper/batsman), Raqibul Hasan (batsman), Rony Talukdar (batsman) and Sabbir Rahman (all-rounder).
Foreign players
Mohammad Sami (Pakistan/bowler), Samit Patel (England/all-rounder), Darren Sammy (West Indies/all-rounder), Milinda Siriwardana (Sri Lanka/all-rounder), Upul Tharanga (Sri Lanka/batsman), Umar Akmal (Pakistan/batsman), Kesrick Williams (West Indies/bowler) and James Franklin (New Zealand/all-rounder).
Last 15 Match: LWLLLWWWWLLWWWL
BPL 4 Statistics:
| Player | Mat | Inns | NO | Runs | HS | Ave | BF | SR | 100 | 50 | 0 | 4s | 6s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sabbir Rahman | 15 | 15 | 1 | 377 | 122 | 26.92 | 320 | 117.81 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 29 | 17 |
| Mominul Haque | 15 | 15 | 0 | 331 | 64 | 22.06 | 306 | 108.16 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 40 | 3 |
| SR Patel | 15 | 14 | 2 | 288 | 75 | 24.00 | 253 | 113.83 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 25 | 9 |
| DJG Sammy | 15 | 14 | 5 | 276 | 71* | 30.66 | 158 | 174.68 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 20 | 18 |
| JEC Franklin | 6 | 6 | 3 | 162 | 63* | 54.00 | 113 | 143.36 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 9 | 9 |
| Nurul Hasan | 11 | 10 | 2 | 114 | 34 | 14.25 | 102 | 111.76 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 1 |
| Umar Akmal | 9 | 9 | 1 | 106 | 33* | 13.25 | 98 | 108.16 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 10 | 3 |
| Farhad Reza | 15 | 10 | 3 | 104 | 44* | 14.85 | 82 | 126.82 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 3 |
| Junaid Siddique | 6 | 6 | 0 | 98 | 38 | 16.33 | 86 | 113.95 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 4 |
| Mehedi Hasan Miraz | 15 | 11 | 4 | 79 | 41* | 11.28 | 80 | 98.75 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 1 |
| Player | Mat | Inns | Overs | Mdns | Runs | Wkts | BBI | Ave | Econ | SR | 4 | 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Farhad Reza | 15 | 15 | 51.0 | 0 | 381 | 14 | 3/28 | 27.21 | 7.47 | 21.8 | 0 | 0 |
| Abul Hasan | 10 | 10 | 32.4 | 0 | 287 | 12 | 5/28 | 23.91 | 8.78 | 16.3 | 0 | 1 |
| Mehedi Hasan Miraz | 15 | 15 | 47.0 | 0 | 348 | 12 | 2/12 | 29.00 | 7.40 | 23.5 | 0 | 0 |
| SR Patel | 15 | 13 | 36.0 | 1 | 220 | 11 | 3/19 | 20.00 | 6.11 | 19.6 | 0 | 0 |
| KOK Williams | 5 | 5 | 20.0 | 0 | 113 | 8 | 4/11 | 14.12 | 5.65 | 15.0 | 1 | 0 |
| Afif Hossain | 4 | 4 | 9.0 | 1 | 78 | 7 | 5/21 | 11.14 | 8.66 | 7.7 | 0 | 1 |
| Nazmul Islam | 10 | 10 | 31.4 | 1 | 190 | 7 | 3/8 | 27.14 | 6.00 | 27.1 | 0 | 0 |
| DJG Sammy | 15 | 11 | 27.0 | 0 | 246 | 6 | 2/34 | 41.00 | 9.11 | 27.0 | 0 | 0 |
| Mohammad Sami | 9 | 9 | 35.0 | 2 | 206 | 5 | 1/7 | 41.20 | 5.88 | 42.0 | 0 | 0 |
| JEC Franklin | 6 | 3 | 4.0 | 0 | 36 | 1 | 1/8 | 36.00 | 9.00 | 24.0 | 0 | 0 |
Statistics source: ESPNcricinfo
