Mushfiqur to lead Rupganj

Mashrafe Bin Mortaza has gone through a lot over the last few days since announcing his retirement from T20Is. The board did not really accept his decision with open arms, with the Bangladesh Cricket Board president claiming that Mashrafe had resigned from captaincy but not the format.

Therefore, it doesn't come as a surprise that Mashrafe has decided against captaining the Legends of Rupganj in the Dhaka Premier League. According to Rupganj officials, Mushfiqur Rahim will be leading Rupganj against Brothers Union at the BKSP today.

According to the team, Mashrafe wanted to relax a bit ahead of the Champions Trophy and as a result handed over the responsibility to Mushfiqur.

The national players will get to play just four matches in the Premier League, which is set to begin today, after which they will leave for England to get ready for the Champions Trophy.

Mashrafe and Mushfiqur's team will be the favourites when they take on Brothers Union today as they have players in their team who have been performing well lately. The likes of Ejaj Ahmed, Naeem Islam, Pinak Ghosh, Yasir Ali and Mahmudul Islam will provide good support to Rupganj.

On the other hand, Brothers will depend upon their veterans -- Alok Kapali, Dhiman Ghosh and Robiul Islam. However, they will, have to work extremely hard to come out victorious against Rupganj.

Prime Doleshwar will take on Partex Sporting Club in the other game at the BKSP. Doleshwar have a far more experienced team than Partex, who will be playing the Premier League for the first time. While Doleshwar do not have any national players in their team, they have got a promising set up. Abdul Majed, Arafat Sunny, Marshall Ayub, Shahriar Nafees and Saeed Sarkar are expected to play the core role for the team.

Partex will be led by Tarek Ahmed Ruben and will count on the experience of Irfan Sukkur, Shahnoor Rahman and Jony Talukdar.

The third match of the day will take place between Mahmudullah Riyad's Abahani and Khelaghar Samaj Kallyan Samiti at the Khan Shaheb Osman Ali Stadium in Fatullah. Reigning champions Abahani have a strong setup this time, although they haven't signed up Tamim Iqbal and they won't have the services of Shakib Al Hasan.

Aside from Riyad, they have signed Taskin Ahmed, Mosaddek Hossain, Nazmul Hossain, Liton Das and Shuvagata Hom. However, they might face problems once the national players leave. For the moment, they have youngsters such as Mohammad Saifuddin, Afif Hossain and Saif Hasan to support the seniors.

For Riyad, this will be a chance to prove himself yet again. He did not have a good time on the recently-concluded tour of Sri Lanka and will be looking to redeem himself.

Khelaghar will hope their veteran batsman Nafis Iqbal can find some form today.