Khulna Titans head coach Mahela Jayawardene is in his second season with the BPL franchise. In his maiden season at the Titans, the former Sri Lankan captain guided his charges to a respectable fourth placed finish. And ahead of their first match of the sixth edition of the tournament against defending champion Rangpur Riders Sunday, the Titans trained in Mirpur’s BCB Academy Ground Thursday morning. After their practice session, Jayawardene spoke with the media regarding the competition itself, Khulna’s prospects, and the local players in the Titans squad. Here are the excerpts:
There are quite a few big names like David Warner, Steve Smith and AB de Villiers, among others, in the BPL. Do you feel BPL is in the right track at the moment to be compared with the other T20 leagues?
People are seeing that tournament and competition is good. It is running properly for the last few years. The players are coming when they are available. It is good for BPL to get all the good players. It is also good for the younger Bangladeshi players to play with those guys, to learn a lot.
There are no so-called big stars at the Titans. What are your thoughts on that?
We rely on a team effort. We had a good season last year. Guys were all contributing. We still feel that as a unit, as a team, if you perform well we can win matches.
This is your second season with the Titans. Overall, what are your expectations this season?
We just need to play the way we played last year. We played good cricket, but unfortunately we couldn’t get through from the playoffs. Hopefully we can go a bit further this year, push ourselves. We have to take one game at a time.
We are quite happy with the squad that has some really good talented players. We are very excited to have some young players from Bangladesh as well. We will try to push ourselves the way we did last year and enjoy our cricket.
The Titans' Mahmudullah bats in the Mirpur nets Dhaka Tribune/Md Manik
You will have two more days before the tournament kicks off. Do you think it is enough time to get to work with the team?
We have had the core players with us. We also have players who have played BPL before so they understand the setup. Group is really good. We have had some good meetings. We will have a few more bonding sessions before our first game. We know each other very well.
Ali Khan has played different leagues across many countries. This is his first time in Bangladesh…
We are excited to have him. It will be good to have him and Lasith [Malinga] together. He can learn as well. Ali is quite exciting. He has just started the leagues so he is inexperienced in that manner. He is quite keen to learn from Bangladeshi conditions and quality opposition. We are glad to have him.
There are some exciting local cricketers in the Titans squad, like left-arm seamer Shariful Islam. What is your take on them?
They are very good. We have had a look at them before buying them. We do our homework. I have seen what [Shariful] (did) in the Emerging Cup and Under-19s, which is why we bought him. We are excited to have him. It is also good to have someone like Taijul [Islam], and some of the guys from our side is in the Emerging group as well. It is encouraging for Khulna that we can produce players for Bangladesh.