Sylhet Strikers and Rangpur Riders will surely be desperate to secure a spot in the grand finale of the ongoing season of the Bangladesh Premier League when they take on each other in the qualifier of the competition at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium today.
The match will start at 6:30 p.m., and Nagarik TV will televise the tie live.
Sylhet had an outstanding outing in the league phase that powered them to the top of the points table and aided them in securing a spot in Qualifier 1 of the competition with 18 points from 12 games.
However, Mashrafe Bin Mortaza's Sylhet failed to carry on their momentum in the playoff as they suffered a four-wicket defeat in the encounter against the Comilla Victorians in the first qualifier that eventually pushed them to vie in the second qualifier.
If they fail again in the next meet, they will be forced to withdraw from the tournament.
And to avoid another defeat, their batting line-ups must step up with the steady bat that they wholly failed to showcase in their last game.
Undoubtedly, the Syhlet batsmen concluded with a dismal run in their last match, as not a single batsman could hit a fifty to strengthen their total.
Opener Najmul Hossain Shanto, who leads the highest run scorers with 412 runs from 13 games, scored a best of 38 off 29 balls, while Mushfiqur Rahim could only manage 29 off 22 for a paltry 125.
In reply, Comilla breezed past the target comfortably, losing six wickets with 20 balls to spare.
That clearly indicates that they don't have an option but to manage a mammoth total to secure a spot in the title decider on February 16 at the same venue.
Conversely, Rangpur, who had an average outing in the league phase that placed them in third place with 16 points from the similar [12] number of games, outshone their Barishal counterpart, who also had a brilliant run in the league phase.
Rangpur eliminated Shakib Al Hasan-led Barishal from the tournament with a flurry of 71 off 51 balls from their young gun Shamim Hossain.
If they can continue the same in today’s tie as well, it wouldn’t be a tough job to stun their Sylhet counterpart as well.
