'Ball, ball... watch!'

The shortest format of cricket is not a serene avatar of the gentleman's game; that much was obvious, thankfully not painfully so, at the MA Aziz Stadium yesterday. Once the venue for international matches in the heart of a bustling Chittagong, MA Aziz has been relegated to a practice venue after the emergence of the better-equipped Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in out-of-the-way Sagarika, but with the flavour of the month being T20 cricket, the older venue is seeing its fair share of action.

Yesterday, four teams -- Khulna Titans, Sylhet Sixers, Rajshahi Kings in the morning and early afternoon, and Dhaka Dynamites in the afternoon -- practised at the venue. In the morning especially, when two teams were practising at the same time, the scene was one of organised chaos, with chaos dominating. In Australia, in the Big Bash League T20 competition spectators are given hard hats to protect their noggins from the sixes that are the biggest attractions of the format. Those hard hats were in dire need at the MA Aziz yesterday.

Batting in the nets in one corner was Rajshahi skipper Darren Sammy, who had just the previous day taken 32 runs in an over from Comilla Victorians' Mohammad Saifuddin, and no corner of the ground was safe. Cries of 'Ball, ball... watch!' were all too regular for comfort, and if you did not keep an eye on the batsmen in the nets, well, good luck to you. That was what teammates Lendl Simmons and Kesrick Williams were doing as they did a few sprint drills down the middle of the ground.

But it was not just Sammy. At the centre wicket Rajshahi's star batsman and Bangladesh Test skipper Mushfiqur Rahim was practising his six-hitting, smashing pull shots into the fence. Not having the best of tournaments so far, the intense Mushfiqur was putting in a thorough practice session and peppering the ball into the fence. 

Rajshahi Kings' Mushfiqur Rahim bats in an optional practice session at the MA Aziz Stadium ahead of the BPL match against Khulna Titans. Photo: Star File

At the far end of the ground, Nasir Hossain's Sylhet were doing much the same as their Rajshahi counterparts, before Nasir and a few others moved up to take the space vacated by Mushfiqur. With Sylhet currently placed just a spot above Rajshahi in fifth place in the seven-team table, the Kings' Zakir Hossain seemed to have tried to do something about it. No sooner had Nasir and Co set up camp in the centre wicket, Zakir, batting in the nets smashed a ball that seemed to be homing in on Nasir's head. 'Watch!' went up the chorus and Nasir comically ducked, holding his bat above his head as the ball sailed harmlessly over. Rajshahi will have a chance to overtake Sylhet if they beat Mahmudullah Riyad's top-placed Khulna in the evening match today.

Holders Dhaka just made it to the port city yesterday and were eager to practise ahead of today's match against bottom-placed Chittagong Vikings. If Dhaka win, they will momentarily usurp Khulna at the top of the table, but the Titans can win pole position back if they beat the Kings in the evening. Dhaka had the ground to themselves in the afternoon, probably a good thing because with the likes of madcap Shahid Afridi and the explosive Kieron Pollard wielding their weaponised willows, casualties in a packed practice venue would have been likely.

With the Chittagong leg proving to be an exciting one so far, with big scores being recorded, all the six hitting seen yesterday should come into good use today as the team's try to one-up each other.