This edition of the Bangabandhu Bangladesh Premier League Twenty20 is very important in the sense that there is a T20 World Cup looming this year and it is eight months away as the next ICC global event will take place in Australia in October-November. Bangladesh had a horrible show in the last 2021 T20 World Cup. So this BPL is a good platform considering the preparation process and to regain some confidence for some young guns from the Tigers squad who have played in the last T20 World Cup and who are also being considered as the possible players for the next one. Let’s see how these young players have performed in this BPL:
Mohammad Naim
With all other openers out of form and Tamim Iqbal absent, Naim became the No 1 choice opener for Bangladesh in the last T20 World Cup and he had a decent tournament there. But soon after the T20 World Cup, Naim’s form dropped and he had a terrible BPL this season, struggling for runs, and he looked absolutely out of confidence. Although he got a few chances in the preferred opening slot, overall his performance was very poor whenever he got chance to bat.
Stat: Naim scored 50 runs from seven innings facing 76 deliveries and his strike rate was horrible (65.78) even considering limited over formats.
Also Read: How national team hopefuls performed in BPL
Afif Hossain
Afif is a highly rated youngster who is considered to be a crucial player in the Tigers batting order in coming years. In the national team, he usually bats down the order and often questions are raised over promoting him into the top order for better opportunities. Well Afif got promoted for Chattogram Challengers in this BPL but the left-hander has failed to impress as he has not scored a single 50-plus innings from 11 games so far, which is disappointing bearing in mind his caliber.
Stat: Afif has scored 222 runs in 11 innings with an average of 20.18 and strike rate of 117.46.
Shamim Hossain Patwary
Shamim is another young prospect and a lot of expectations were on him to perform well in this BPL after his breakthrough season last year where he was called up to the T20 World Cup squad. But the young left-hander did not perform at his best in the BPL group stage as he scored only one 50-plus knock from nine innings. His strike rate from nine innings was 117.98 only and that was not impressive either for a batsman who usually bats in slog overs.
Stat: Shamim scored 164 runs from nine innings with an average of 18.22 and strike rate of 117.98.
Mahedi Hasan
Mahedi proved to be a crucial utility player for the Tigers as his off-spin has become very handy in recent months. The right-hander can bat at any position also which gives the team an edge in different situations in a T20 game. Mahedi performed well with the bat as he scored 169 with a highest score of 72 while opening in the must win game for Khulna Tigers. His bowling could have been better as he took only five wickets from 34 overs but overall it’s a decent season for the all-rounder.
Stat: Mahedi scored 169 runs with a strike rate of 121.58 and bagged five wickets from 34 overs with an economy rate of 7.14.
Nurul Hasan
Nurul was in brilliant form in the last couple of domestic seasons and that form earned him a call up to the national team prior to the T20 World Cup. But Nurul was not able to continue his superb form in this BPL as he has scored only 52 runs in eight innings for Fortune Barishal. Although he managed to play 60 deliveries in the tournament so far, scoring 52 from those is not impressive for a batsman like Nurul who can play big shots. His wicket-keeping was very good as expected but batting could have been better.
Stat: Nurul scored 52 from eight innings in the lower middle-order with a strike rate of 86.66.
Also Read: Emerging players of BPL 2022
Shariful Islam
Shariful, the U-19 World Cup champion bowler for junior Tigers, have become a regular weapon in the Tigers bowling armory along with Mustafizur Rahman in recent months. The left-armer had a decent tournament thus far as he notched 13 wickets from 11 games. One of his major roles is bowling in death overs and he bowled superbly in a couple of games to earn win for his side Chattogram. But the area to improve for the young pacer is economy rate as he almost bowled 35 overs in the group stage and conceded nine per over.
Stat: Shariful took 13 wickets from 11 innings with the best figure of 4/34 and economy rate of 9.14.
