BPL 5th edition kicks off today

The fifth edition of the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) T20 will start at Sylhet International Cricket Stadium (SICS) on Saturday.

Defending champions Dhaka Dynamites will take on Surma Sixers Sylhet in the opener to kick off the 39-day long seven-franchise team tournament. The opener will begin at 2pm.

The 4th highest run-getter --971 runs -- in BPL T20 and the world fame all-rounder across all three formats of cricket Shakib Al Hasan will lead star studded Dhaka Dynamites in the tournament against relatively young side Surma Sixers Sylhet -- the side returned with new franchise after missing out the last edition - will lead by all-rounder Nasir Hossain, having young icon player Sabbir Rahman who is now 90 runs away to reach 1000-runs mark in his BPL career.

In another opening day's match, defending runners-up Rajshahi Kings will play against Rangpur Riders at the same venue, starting at 7:00pm.

The cricket fraternity will have a chance to witness the rivalry between the Bangladesh Test side captain Mushfiqur Rahim and ODI captain Mashrafe Bin Mortaza.

Mashrafe -- the most successful leader in the history of BPL with clinching title twice for Dhaka franchise (2012 & 2013) and maiden title for Comilla Victorians (2016) under his captaincy, will lead the Rangpur Riders in this edition.

On the other side defending runners-up Rajshahi Kings have experienced Mushfiqur Rahim, who is the current highest run-getter with 1172 from last four editions.

Khulna Titans, Chittagong Vikings and Comilla Victorians are the three other teams will play in the tournament, involving 46 matches where only five foreign players can be fit at a time in a game in the XI, as per rules of BPL, which was four in the last two editions.

Comilla franchise icon and country's dashing opener Tamim Iqbal and Rajshahi franchise icon pace sensation Mustafizur Rahman will miss out the start of the tournament for at least first two weeks as both are now recovering from their injuries.

The recurrence of irritating left thigh injury delayed Tamim's appearance in the meet while Mustafizur is recovering from the ankle injury. Both suffered injuries during their South Africa tour of Bangladesh in October.

Tamim first suffered injury during the practice match at the start of the tour in Benoni followed by the recurrence of that injury in the first Test in Potchefstroom. Mustafizur suffered injury before the ODI series against South Africa.

SICS will host the first eight matches before the tournament move to the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium (SBNCS) in Dhaka for the next 16 battles. Then the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium, Chittagong will host the next 10 matches before the tournament concentration fully move to SBNCS for the remaining 12 matches.

BPL official broadcast partner satellite channel Gazi TV will telecast all the match live.

There will be an additional attraction for the audiences display enjoyment with the inclusion of Digital Perimeter Board on the ground for the first time in BPL. The board will show consistently changing sports scene during the match.

BPL 5: Sylhet Venue fixture

Date  Team  vs  Team Time

November 4:  Surma Sixers Sylhet  vs Dhaka Dynamites - 2pm
Rajshahi Kings  vs Rangpur Riders - 7pm

November 5:  Surma Sixers Sylhet  vs Comilla Victorians - 2pm
Khulna Titans  vs Dhaka Dynamites - 7pm

November 7: Chittagong Vikings  vs Comilla Victorians -2pm
Surma Sixers Sylhet vs Rajshahi Kings -7pm

November 8:  Rangpur Riders  vs Chittagong Vikings- 2pm
Surma Sixers Sylhet  vs Khulna Titans -7pm

Source: ntvbd