Fortune Barishal, who formed a balanced team with signing some of the experienced cricketers in the ongoing Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) T-20.
Meanwhile, the Fortune Barisal roped the stars like - dashing batters Tamim Iqbal, all-rounder Mahmudullah Riyad, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, wicketkeeper-batter Mushfiqur Rahim. But apart from Tamim and Mushfique the other batters yet to prove their mettle.
Fortune Barishal also reached their squad with including Pakistani all-rounder Shoaib Malik and Sri Lankan Slow Left arm Orthodox Dunith Nethmika Wellalage.
Fortune Barishal, who changed their name for three times, played the first edition of the BPL as Barisal Burners in 2012, won the runners up trophy, then in 2015 they played as Barisal Bulls and also became runners up of the third edition.
For last two season, they have been playing as Fortune Barisal when they started the 10th BPL season with a winning note after defeating former champions Rangpur Riders by five wickets in their opening encounter at Sher-E-Bangla National Cricket Stadium on January 20.
After the first phase, Barisal is now in the sixth position in the points table. They lost two matches in a row. They suffered back to back defeats at the hands of Khulna Tigers and the reigning champions Comilla Victorians to finish the first phase at the second lowest side of the seven teams competition.
But their technical director of the team Dave Whatmore is not frustrated. He thinks that their score (161) against defending champions Comilla Victorians was a challenging one but unfortunately they conceded the defeat, as the opponents won the match just one ball remaining of the innings.
“All the teams who batted first lost the matches. He thought that the team who would bat first would won the game but we failed. We did some mistakes,” said the former Bangladesh national cricket team’s head coach Whatmore.
Pacer Khaled Ahmed could not show better performance in the match. He is yet to appear with his real pace. He took one wicket conceding 32 runs from 3.5 overs.
Dav Whatmore said, “We lost to Khulna Tigers by eight wickets at the same venue on January 22. We managed 187/4. It was a challenging score but lost the match. We had chances to add more runs on the board. But the score we collected was also a fighting total.”
“It was a tough match. But luck was not in favour of us. The team’s combination was perfect. We are capable to win the next match against Chattogram Challengers at Sylhet International Cricket Stadium, on January 27,” Said Whatmore.
