BPL 2017, Qualifier 1, Preview: Table toppers Comilla Victorians face confident Dhaka Dynamites

Comilla Victorians and Dhaka Dynamites were the two teams which held the top two positions in the BPL 2017 points table at the end of the league stage of the tournament and as per the rules of the playoffs, they will be facing each other in Qualifier 1 which is scheduled to take place on Friday at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium, Dhaka.

There won’t be much of pressure on either of the two teams as they know even if they lose this game, they will have a second opportunity of making it to the finals in Qualifier 2 where they will face the winner of the eliminator. However they would like to win this one and secure a final berth at the first opportunity itself rather than putting themselves into a must-win situation in Qualifier 2.

Comilla have easily been the most dominant team in the BPL 2017, but Dhaka have not been too far behind either. The two teams finished the league stage with 9 and 7 wins respectively. In the head to head record this season, Comilla are leading 2-0 as on both the occasions they have played Dhaka, they have managed to beat them.

Comilla Victorians (Predicted XI): Tamim Iqbal (C), Liton Das (WK), Imrul Kayes, Shoaib Malik, Raqibul Hasan, Marlon Samuels, Jos Buttler, Mohammad Saifuddin, Graeme Cremer, Mehedi Hasan, Al-Amin Hossain

Dhaka Dynamites (Predicted XI): Evin Lewis, Sunil Narine, Joe Denly, Shakib Al Hasan (C), Kieron Pollard, Mosaddek Hossain, Jahurul Islam (WK), Abu Hider Rony, Mohammad Amir, Saddam Hossain, Mehedi Maruf

Focus will be on

Shoaib Malik (Comilla)

Shoaib Malik is one of those players who have got different gears in his batting. While he is fully capable of depositing the ball into the stands, he is equally efficient in manipulating the strike too. He would like to bat slightly up the order and take control of the game. There have been one or two occasions in the tournament when he has batted lower down and has failed to get the job done for the team which he won’t want to happen in this crunch game.

Sunil Narine (Dhaka)

It was not so long back ago that Sunil Narine was a specialist bowler who would bat at 9 or 10 and throw his bat around a little bit, but the same can’t be said about him anymore. He now plays as a genuine all-rounder who makes a difference not only with the ball, which is of course his primary trade, but with his big hitting at the top of the order too. He recently won a man of the match award for an extraordinary innings of 69 against Rajshahi Kings which included 6 sixes.

Playing Combinations

Comilla Victorians

Tamim Iqbal and Imrul Kayes will start the innings for Comilla followed by Liton Das.  Shoaib Malik, in all probability, will bat at four which is the suitable batting position for him considering he can anchor the innings through the middle overs and then go big at the end. There will be a couple of power players at 5 and 6 in the form of Marlon Samuels and Jos Buttler followed by the all-rounder Mohammad Saifuddin who can also give the ball a bit of whack.

Comilla have quite a solid bowling attack too. They seem to have got all the bases covered as far as their bowling is concerned. They also have the subtleties of Al-Amin Hossain who is fantastic with his off cutters and slower ball bouncers.

Mohammad Saifuddin is more than equipped to be the third seamer of the team and then there are a couple of skilful spinners who take the ball in different directions of the batsman as one of them bowls off spin, while the other is a leg spinner.

Dhaka Dynamites

The biggest strength of the Dhaka Dynamites is their opening pair of Narine and Lewis which is the most explosive opening pair in the tournament. While both are left handers, they are very different kinds of left handers and thus complement each other really well.  Narine is more of a front foot player and likes to hit the ball through the line with a vertical bat, whereas Lewis is good square of the wicket on both sides.

Dhaka’s middle order is not the worst either as it comprises two of the world’s best T20 players in the form of Shakib Al Hasan and Kieron Pollard who is capable of changing the game in a matter of few deliveries.

Dhaka’s bowling largely depends on Mohammad Amir and their skipper Shakib Al Hasan, however Abu Hider Rony has been very effective in the tournament as well with his left arm medium pace bowling.