The Bangladesh Premier League is at its business end of proceedings as teams at the bottom half of the table face do-or-die situations in order to make the top four, while teams at the top half look to consolidate their positions eyeing the Qualifiers.
With such contrasting realities, Nasir Hossain’s Dhaka Dominators, who are languishing at the bottom with two wins out of eight matches, will take on one of the most likely candidates to take hold of the Qualifier positions, Shakib Al Hasan-led Fortune Barishal.
Dhaka got their campaign off to a wonderful start with a six-wicket win over Khulna Tigers but since then had to endure a horrific run of results as they lost the next six matches.
However, they have shown signs of life with another win over Khulna in their latest encounter but will have to play out of their skin in order to upset a marauding Barishal.
Captain Nasir has been Dhaka’s top performer with both bat and ball and had help from speedster Taskin Ahmed but underwhelming efforts from their batters and a lacklustre display from their foreign recruits have somewhat put a rope on their potential progression.
On the other end of the table, Shakib has led from the front, this time predominantly with the bat and match-winning performances from their foreign inclusions have boosted their strength and made them one of the frontrunners in the tournament so far.
When: 1:30 pm, January 30, Monday
Where: Sylhet international cricket Stadium, Sylhet
Reverse fixture: Fortune Barishal won by 13 runs
Probable XI
Dhaka Dominators: Soumya Sarker, Mizanur Rahman, Usman Ghani, Mohammad Mithun (wk), Nasir Hossain (c), Muktar Ali, Ariful Haque, Taskin Ahmed, Amir Hamza, Al-Amin Hossain, Salman Irshad
Fortune Barishal: Anamul Haque (wk), Saif Hassan, Shakib Al Hasan (c), Mahmudullah Riyad, Chaturanga de Silva, Iftikhar Ahmed, Salman Hossain, Karim Janat, Mohammad Wasim Jr
Players to watch
Nasir Hossain (Dhaka Dominators)
Matches: 8
Runs: 291
Strike-rate: 125.97
Wickets: 11
Economy rate: 7.23
Shakib Al Hasan (Fortune Barishal)
Matches: 8
Runs: 306
Strike-rate: 186.58
Wickets: 4
Economy rate: 6.62
