BPL playoffs start today

The playoff stage of the Bangabandhu Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) T20 cricket will begin from Monday at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Mirpur.

League leader Khulna Tigers will play number two Rajshahi Royals in the first qualifier at 6:30pm. Chattogram Challengers, who are in the third place, will face Dhaka Platoon in the eliminator at 1:30pm.

The winners of the first qualifier will directly play in the final, scheduled for 17 January.

In case of a defeat in eliminator (Challengers vs Platoon), the losing team will end their BPL engagements while the winning team will advance to Qualifier 2 where they will meet the loser of the Qualifier 1 to play in the final.

Despite having 14 stitches on his left hand, Dhaka Platoon captain Mashrafe Bin Mortaza wants to play the eliminator against Chattogram Challengers on January 13 at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium.

Mashrafe sustained the blow during the 11th over of Tigers’ innings on Saturday evening. Mehedi Hasan was bowling and Rilee Rossouw was at the strike. Mashrafe jumped to take catch off Rossouw but failed. The ball hit his left palm.

The Platoon captain had to walk back off the field. The Platoon management confirmed that Mashrafe had received 14 stitches. Despite this blow, the pacer wants to play the next game.

“We aren’t sure what to do but Masrhafe is willing to play the next game. He is a fighter, we are now waiting to see what he finally does,” Ahsanullah Hasan, the team manager of Platoon, told the media.

Chief physician of Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) Debashis Chowdhury said that they can manage a special treatment for Mashrafe so that he can take part in the next game, but he also said this sort of injury takes more than seven days to heal.

“In case of this sort of injuries, we usually prescribe to do nothing for at least three days. It can take more than seven days to heal. But if he wants to play, we can manage a special treatment for him so that he can play one match,” Debashis told the media.

Mashrafe played all 12 matches in the league phase of this BPL and took eight wickets at an economy rate of 7.56. His team Platoon won seven of their 12 matches in the league phase and secured a playoff berth as the fourth team.