Stats from Bangladesh’s win over Sri Lanka

Former Bangladesh ODI captain Mashrafe Bin Mortaza turned heads when he got a wicket with his very first delivery in this season's Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) on Friday.

The veteran, however, has been struggling with fitness issues following his return to cricket after a long break and his franchise's decision to give him the captaincy raised questions about BPL's inherent lack of quality.

It had been some eight months since he had last played competitive cricket in the Dhaka Premier League.

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BPL: A league without a purpose

Mashrafe is leading Sylhet Strikers this BPL, having won the franchise tournament the most times as skipper for various franchises in a decorated career. He had played the match against Chattogram Challengers which his side lost by seven wickets. Although he got a wicket off his first delivery, the end was not sweet as Chattogram's Najibullah Zadran smashed him for 16 runs in three deliveries of the 19th over to finish off the game.

Mashrafe yesterday came for his first practice session this season and worked on his batting. It could be surmised that the BPL's grind could be a tough hurdle for the veteran. While his dedication for the game is still an example, playing him puts the team's plans regarding BPL into doubt.

When he arrived at the field, many were checking the state of his legs and after his batting session, which was of low-intensity against spinners, Mashfare had difficulty taking off his pads.

"Actually, rather than Mashrafe bhai's performance, him just being in the field is the main motivation for us," Zakir Hasan, who scored an unbeaten 70 off 43 deliveries in the defeat to Chattogram, said at the press briefing when asked about the veteran's involvement.

"Him being there makes decision-making easy which is what I felt and that's important for us," Zakir added.

When asked whether Mashrafe would feature more as a batter than a bowler in their next game, Zakir said: "I think it would be better to ask bhaiya (Mashrafe) the question instead of me since he batted for the first time this season in a practice session. He came in previous sessions too but maybe he is trying to prepare himself well with the bat."

While there are players available for captaincy including Najmul Hossain Shanto, the stand-in skipper for Bangladesh across formats, Sylhet went for the tried and tested virtues of Mashrafe.

There were speculations prior to the start of the tournament on whether Mashrafe would captain the side but such speculations subsided once an official press release informed of the captaincy assignment. There are also whispers that he did not want to take the captaincy role but did so due to the franchise's request.

The BPL once injected rules such as making it mandatory to have a 140 km/h pacer in the attack for the sides. While BPL appeared to have standards falling over the years, last season brought some freshness in terms of competitiveness. Only time will tell time will tell if the resurgence of competitiveness would sustain given the fitness standard of one of its key players.

Tamim Iqbal's injury will be assessed after his MRI scan report arrives, BCB physio Dr. Debashish Chowdhury informed.

Tamim Iqbal had to fly to Bangkok for tests on the injury to his left knee ahead of the PSL final. The Bangladesh opening batsman had previously injured this very same leg and had to go under the doctor's knife. Bangladesh physio Thihan Chandramohan travelled to Australia to see Dr. David Young with Tamim's scan reports.

Dr. Debashish informed that the injury is nothing major and Tamim has time to rest and recuperate from the injury. However Dr. Debashish warned that "I cannot yet comment on the injury without having a look at the report."

Tamim is expected to return home day after tomorrow.

The on and off-field issues going on in the 10th edition of the Bangladesh Premier League, India making England taste their 'Bazball' tonic, an inexperienced West Indies making their presence felt at the Gabba, Liverpool having to look at life after Jurgen Klopp and the Australian Open awaiting a new Men's singles champion -- there are events aplenty for fans to dive into. Here, in this episode of The Daily Star's multimedia show, 'Pitch Perfect', we try to discuss briefly the current sporting scenario.

Bangladesh batter Imrul Kayes has questioned the player grading process considered when sorting players into categories in the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) 

Imrul, who played his last international match for Bangladesh in 2018, raised doubts about the criteria on which players are graded, hinting that a lack of fairness looms large in the process. He questioned whether players are graded on reputation or performance ahead of the draft of the 11th edition of the BPL, starting on December 27.

"After seeing grading of the cricketers ahead of the BPL draft, I have been wondering what the grading is based on," A post on Imrul's official Facebook page read on Friday.

"Is it [playing in the] national team, performance in the domestic cricket throughout the year, BPL performance or just names? 

"A cricketer who has not been near cricket throughout this year found his place in 'B' grade but cricketers who were brilliant in the last edition of the BPL were placed in 'C' grade. So, is it just the name or the reputation that is considered when determining the grade of a cricketer?"
Thirty-seven-year-old Imrul, who is one of BPL's most successful captains with three titles under his belt, was placed in 'C' grade where the price cap is Tk 25 lakhs. The left-handed batter was preferred in only five matches in Comilla Victorians' road to the final of the 2024 edition in which he scored 152 runs at a strike-rate of 114.28.

Imrul's dissatisfaction may have come from his former national teammate Mashrafe Bin Mortaza's sorting into 'B' grade. Mashrafe, who turned 41 earlier this month, played his last competitive match in the 2024 Dhaka Premier League for Legends of Rupganj in April. Before that, he came under immense scrutiny for playing in the 2024 BPL in which he took a break after playing just five matches for the Sylhet Strikers. He was captain in all five matches and cited political engagements as the reason for the sabbatical. There was, however, another key element in his short stint; The then 40-year-old, who has struggled with knee injuries throughout his career, was often seen hobbling to complete his strides to the crease while bowling and found it difficult to keep himself in proper shape which put the quality and the competitiveness of the franchise tournament into question.  

Imrul expressed his dissatisfaction at the lack of clarity and performance-based system when it comes to grading players, revealing his own experiences of how he lost his place on the national side in the aftermath of an underwhelming BPL season.

"I could not do well in the 2018-19 edition of the BPL which is why I was dropped from the national team after the West Indies series. Subsequently, when I talked with a BCB official about that, he told me that my performance in the BPL was relatively poor which is why they dropped me. Since I could not perform to my expectations, I accepted that decision without hesitation.

"But I worked very hard to make a comeback to the national side and even scored 442 runs in 13 matches for Chattogram Challengers in the 2019-20 edition of the BPL but, even after such a performance, I was not called up. Moreover, I was not even included in any national team camps. So, does that mean that you are out if you do not perform in the BPL? But even if you perform, it is not being taken into consideration. Will the dire times in our cricket never end? 

The Asia Cup will be back to its old 50-over format when the 16th edition of the regional cricket extravaganza kicks off in Pakistan and Sri Lanka from August 30. As Bangladesh gear up for the six-team tournament under the leadership of all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan, The Daily Star Sport looks back at the Tigers' performances in the 2018 Asia Cup in UAE.

Third time unlucky for Tigers

It was another final in the Asia Cup and another heartbreak for the Tigers as India edged Bangladesh by three wickets in a last-ball thriller and clinched the title for a record seventh time at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.

Bangladesh opener Liton Das produced his maiden ODI century but the rest of the batting was a no-show.

Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Bin Mortaza was left to rue a patchy batting performance that saw them slip up after being 120 for nought at one stage. But a combination of outstanding fielding from India and poor shot selection from Bangladesh stopped them for 222 runs.

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Tigers fall agonisingly short

"You have to look after the batting after a good start. We should have scored 250-260 on this wicket," Mashrafe had said after the match.

Chasing a target of 223, India were tested by a spirited Bangladesh bowling attack but eventually managed to win this game on the final ball of the innings as India's lower-middle order showed tremendous character.

Mashrafe handed Mahmudullah Riyad the ball with India needing six runs off six balls as Bangladesh skipper later said : "I asked Mahmudullah if he was confident. He had the experience of bowling in these situations in the last over in the BPL. Soumya would have been easier to score off. We wanted them to mishit one, and then you never know."

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Role reversals of the unwanted kind