Selfie Kings revel in unity

In terms of face value, the Rajshahi Kings are definitely not there at the top. But as far as gelling as a group is concerned, they have easily dominated the lot in this season of the Bangladesh Premier League.

The Kings so far have clearly been the most enjoyable team to watch on the field. From their unorthodox celebrations on the field to their ability to turn things around at the last moment, under the leadership of Darren Sammy, the Kings seem to have inculcated the West Indian approach.

“We are a new team but if you look at the group, we are gelling together. We perform like a family, whether we look good or not. I wasn't too sad when we finished fourth in the group stage because every time we played a team above us, we defeated them. We have fixed our aim on the final. Hopefully we will do well,” said Sammy after yesterday's match.

The fact that all the 11 Rajshahi players were in unison was obvious from the way they celebrated every wicket against the Chittagong Vikings. All their players took the pain of gathering together and taking imaginary selfies and photos of each other on the field.

“We all like to take photos. If you check their instagram, they always keep posting photos, so why not bring that into cricket? When you play well, and when you bring out the celebration, you continue to play as a team and you gel well. That creates an environment for success,” said Sammy

“We were under the pump at one point initially and we came back because we had the spirit. Again while batting when we were under the pump, I just imagined how it feels like when you take selfies,” he added with a smile.

The way Darren Sammy revived the team from a precarious 57 for six, through a whirlwind 55 off 27 balls, was absolutely amazing. His team was under pressure and instead of playing defensively he attacked the opposition. And this is of course not the first time that he has helped a side recover in a T20 game towards the end.

When asked to explain how he plans his chase, he said: “I look at the required run-rate and then break it down. I am a big admirer of [MS] Dhoni. If you bat out and take the game out as long as possible, you give yourself a better chance of winning.”

“But today after [James] Franklin got out, he said to me, just free up and enjoy and go for it. That probably changed my mindset to a positive from a defensive. I just put the attack back on them,” he added.

Despite the win, Sammy reckoned that the Kings are yet to play their best cricket.

Chittagong Vikings skipper Tamim Iqbal on the other hand was expectedly quite distraught.

“If I start analysing our mistakes then there are a lot of things I can tell. But I don't want to go into that. The tournament has ended. I am proud of the way my team played,” said Tamim.