As the Bangladesh Premier League’s playoff stage is coming closer, everyone wants to know which of the seven teams will make it there. Indeed, this comes at the end of a long and arduous tournament. Along the way, the forms and fortunes of every team have oscillated between the very good and the very bad.
Sylhet Strikers and Durdanto Dhaka – perhaps boasting of the most delightful sides in the competition – have been eliminated. Comilla Victorians, Rangpur Riders and Chattogram Challengers have already qualified for the playoffs. The Riders and the Challengers comprise the top two of the league table, while the latter is third. It is the fourth spot in the playoffs for which the two other teams in the tournament – Khulna Tigers and Fortune Barishal – are vying.
Both the Tigers and the Fortune have had decent runs in the tournament. They jostle for space in the fourth and fifth spot of the table with just a two-point difference. While Barishal are ranked in the forth spot with 12 points, Khulna are perched one spot below them in the same standings with ten points earned.
On February 23, Comilla meet Barishal in the afternoon, whereas Khulna clash against Sylhet in the afternoon. If Barishal beat Comilla in the first game of the day, they will qualify for the playoffs. If they fail, Khulna’s doors might open yet again. If they win their game against the already-eliminated Khulna, they might stand a chance to creep up to the 4th spot and earn qualification.
It comes with the caveat that their net run rate is higher than Barishal’s since they will both be tied with 12 points in the abovementioned hypothetical case. The BPL will get more exciting as time passes. One may hope it continues to throw up interesting games just as it has done all tournaments.
