Fans to witness Mash, Mushy's rivalry
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Dhaka: Defending runners-up Rajshahi Kings will play against Rangpur Riders in the opening day's 2nd match of the 5th edition of the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) T20 starting at Sylhet International Cricket Stadium (SICS) on Saturday.
The match will begin at 7pm where 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 skipper 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.
Mashrafe expects the best form his cohorts as his primary target is to confirm the last-four berth in the seven-team tournament. He wants to sketch the game-plan emphasizing on match by match strategy with the best fight on the ground that have changed with much development then before.
"We have good team combination. To draw something prettier, we have to give our best. We want to play match by match. It's an opportunity for all of us to share experience with experienced foreign players," the inspirational captain said to journalist during the practice session at Sylhet District Stadium on Friday.
Rajshahi franchise got Mushfiqur as their icon player as well as pace sensation Mustafizur Rahman, who will miss out the start of the tournament for at least first two weeks as he is now recovering from ankle injury. Mustafizur suffered injury before the ODI series of Bangladesh against South Africa in October.
The most run getter in the BPL T20 (1172 runs) Mushfiqur has moved to a new franchise Rajshahi after some problems with previous franchise owner Barisal Bulls, the franchise was ruled out from participating in this edition BPL as they failed to meet the financial terms.
Apart from Barisal Bulls, Mushfiqur is well experienced in the franchised tournament playing for Duronto Rajshahi, Sylhet Royals and Sylhet Super Stars in the last four editions.
Rangpur Riders Squad: Mashrafe Bin Mortaza, Mohammad Mithun, Rubel Hossain, Sohag Gazi, Shahriar Nafees, Nazmul Islam, Ziaur Rahman, Fazle Mahmud, Abdur Razzak, Ebadat Hossain, Elias Sunny, Nahidul Islam, Brendon McCullum, Ravi Bopara, David Willey, Adam Lyth, Johnson Charles, Chris Gayle, Samuel Badree, Thisara Perera, Kusal Perera, Sam Hain, Samiullah Shenwari and Zahir Khan.
Rajshahi Kings Squad: Luke Wright, Kesrick Williams, Lendl Simmons, Darren Sammy, Malcolm Waller, Samit Patel, Mohammad Sami, James Franklin, Usama Mir, Raza Ali Dar, Mushfiqur Rahim, Mominul Haque, Mehedi Hasan Miraz, Farhad Reza, Mustafizur Rahman, Zakir Hasan, Nihaduzzaman, Rony Talukder, Hossain Ali, Naeem Islam Jr and Qazi Onik.