Eliminator pits Dhaka against Chittagong

Dhaka Dynamites will take on Chittagong Vikings in the eliminator at Mirpur Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Dhaka Monday.

Dhaka have experienced mixed fortunes in the tournament as they won their first four matches in the beginning stages. 

Later, they lost against Rajshahi Kings in Sylhet before winning against Sylhet Sixers in their sixth game. 

But after that, they went through a torrid time as they suffered defeats in five consecutive matches, and were even on the brink of elimination from the group phase.

But a confident display against Khulna Titans Saturday ensured their berth in the last four, ahead of Rajshahi, due to a better run rate.

And now they are up against Chittagong in the eliminator.

Dhaka camp is slightly concerned with their top-order batsmen’s form as Hazratullah Zazai could not maintain his good start to the tournament.

Defending champion @ridersofhope will face off against @ComillaV in the first qualifier of the sixth season of the @Official_BPLT20 at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Mirpur, Dhaka Monday.https://t.co/qnInTE1pX1#CRICKET #BPLT20 #BPL #T20 #RANGPUR #COMILLA #CV #RR #BCB

— Dhaka Tribune Sports (@Sport_DT) February 3, 2019

The other opener Sunil Narine is also not in the best of touch with the bat, although he did play a cameo against Khulna in the last match.

Dhaka have brought experienced Sri Lanka opener Upul Tharanga in the squad while English all-rounder Luke Wright has also joined the Dynamites prior to the eliminator.

Tharanga scored 42 in the last game and was later adjudged man-of-the-match.  

Alongside Tharanga and Wright, Dhaka will have a headache choosing between Narine, Andre Russell and Kieron Pollard.

Dhaka coach Khaled Mahmud is expecting a good fight against Chittagong and expressed hope that the Dynamites will bounce back strongly, despite losing both their group stage games against the Vikings.

“It’s a very important match for both the teams. We lost both the games closely against them in this tournament. But [Monday] is a new day. In the last match, our overall performance was great. Hopefully our players will execute our plans well in the middle and bring a positive result for us,” said Mahmud after their practice session at the academy ground in Mirpur Sunday.  

“Chittagong are playing very well. Mushfiqur [Rahim] is leading the team with brilliant performance. They have quality overseas players as well. Also, [Abu Jayed] Rahi and Khaled [Ahmed] are bowling well. So they are very competitive in this tournament and played brilliant cricket. As we have lost against them on both the occasions, we will start as an underdog.

#Dynamites beat #Titans, qualify for eliminator https://t.co/bDU8wQZQ7X

— Dhaka Tribune Sports (@Sport_DT) February 2, 2019

“Actually, we are focusing on our own game. We have big hitters in our team. We need to keep our wickets in hand so that big hitters like Pollard or Russell can score big in the late stage. We are confident we will perform better [Monday],” he added.

Chittagong camp is pretty confident ahead of their tie against Dhaka as they have played good cricket all around. 

They are yet again expecting good things from their star all-rounder Robbie Frylinck, who has won three close matches for them in the tournament, and performed exceptionally well.  

Frylinck has scored 113 runs in five innings for the Vikings and remained not out on four occasions. 

He also took 12 wickets in seven innings.

Frylinck took part in training Sunday and batted in the nets at the academy ground.

The eliminator starts at 1:30pm, local time.