Message Board Archives

Chris Gayle, AB de Villiers lend frightening aura to defending champions Rangpur Riders

Rangpur Riders

Rangpur Riders have assembled a team befitting defending champions. Mashrafe Mortaza, the newly elected MP, will have eyes on an unprecedented fifth BPL triumph for himself with Chris Gayle, AB de Villiers, Alex Hales, Ravi Bopara and Rilee Rossouw part of his batting arsenal.

All five can't be picked on the same day, as the Riders will look for control with the ball, too, as they enter the tournament as favourites. To balance out the batting might, they have Mashrafe, Sheldon Cottrell, Abul Hasan and Shafiul Islam in the pace attack, as well as the left-arm spinner Nazmul Islam and offspinner Sohag Gazi.

Dhaka Dynamites


Dhaka Dynamites have four of the best allrounders in T20 today in Shakib Al Hasan, Andre Russell, Kieron Pollard and Sunil Narine. That automatically makes them serious title contenders.

Outside these four, Dynamites have Hazratullah Zazai, who created mayhem in the Afghanistan Premier League in October, as well as the experienced England batsman Ian Bell and the South African fast bowler Andrew Birch.

Rajshahi Kings

Rajshahi Kings have much to improve upon after finishing second from bottom in the 2017-18 BPL. They have rejigged their top order by including Soumya Sarkar and Mohammad Hafeez, while Laurie Evans, Christiaan Jonker and Seekkuge Prasanna will add big hits towards the end of the innings.

They have also roped in Ryan ten Doeschate for his batting experience, apart from retaining Zakir Hasan and Mominul Haque, who are likely to feature in their top three. The side is likely to be led by the offspinner Mehidy Hasan Miraz, who has improved significantly for Bangladesh in 2018.

Chittagong Vikings

Chittagong Vikings were out of this season's BPL until very late, and they ended up with a somewhat hurriedly-put-together team. Still, their team management, consisting of Bangladesh chief selector Minhajul Abedin and his younger brother and team head coach Nurul Abedin, has so far done a decent job.

They have retained last year's performers Luke Ronchi, Sikandar Raza, Najibullah Zadran and Sunzamul Islam. Right before the draft picks began in November, they signed Mushfiqur Rahim, which strengthened their middle order further.

Link Text