The final stage of the Dhaka Premier Division Cricket League— the Super League— is all set to begin on Monday.
A total of six clubs— Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club, Legends of Rupganj, Abahani Limited, Prime Bank Cricket Club, Rupganj Tigers Cricket Club and Gazi Group Cricketers— will participate in this phase of the Dhaka League.
In the first round matches, Sheikh Jamal will take on Gazi Group, Legends of Rupganj will play against Rupganj Tigers, and Abahani will take on Prime Bank Cricket Club.
City Club, Brothers Union and Khelaghar Samaj Kalyan Samity will take part in the Relegation phase of the league. The two teams who will end up being at the bottom will be relegated from the event, they won’t be able to participate in the next season of the league directly.
Ahead of the Super League, two veteran coaches of the Bangladesh domestic circuit— Khaled Mahmud and Mohammad Salahuddin— expressed disappointment about the quality of fitness of the cricketers.
“Every cricketer needs to be aware of their fitness,” Mahmud told the reporters on Sunday. “Having good fitness is key to doing well in cricket. Every cricketer knows it. The players of the national team are aware of it, but the cricketers who play at the domestic circuit need to be more careful.”
Mahmud, the former captain of the Bangladesh team, is the head coach of the Abahani Limited.
Salahuddin, who is the coach of the Prime Bank Cricket Club, was also disappointed while talking about the fitness of the cricketers of his club. “Most of the players of my club are unfit. They don’t have the minimum standard of fitness. I’ve already passed my message to them. If they cannot manage good fitness, they might not be able to play for this club in the coming years,” Salahuddin said.
Sheikh Jamal ended up in the league phase of this season of Dhaka League as the best team with 18 points from nine wins in 10 matches while Abahani became number two in the points table with 14 from seven wins in 10 matches.
Veteran batter Naeem Islam scored the highest runs of this season so far— 749 from 10 matches with two centuries and five fifties. He is representing Legends of Rupganj. Prime Bank’s Anamul Haque Bijoy also hit two centuries and five fifties and scored 728 runs in this season of the league.
Parvez Rasool of India who has been playing for Sheikh Jamal has scalped 20 wickets so far in 10 matches while Rakibul Hasan of Prime Bank is right after him with 19 wickets in 10 matches.
All the matches of the Super League phase will be telecast live by the private tv channel T-Sports.
Source: United News of Bangladesh