Sylhet Strikers made a poor start to this year’s Bangladesh Premier League (BPL), losing their first three matches, two of which were in front of their raucous home crowd at the Sylhet International Cricket Stadium.
The BPL is not a home-and-away tournament, as just three sites — Dhaka, Sylhet, and Chattogram — host matches for the seven different franchises, each named after a different division.
However, as in previous years, fans in Sylhet are going to great lengths to demonstrate their support for the team named after their hometown, and for the past week or so, Sylhet residents have been observed discussing their team’s disappointing performance everywhere from galleries to roads to hotels to restaurants.
Sylhet’s first three games were against tournament favourites Rangpur Riders (two) and Fortune Barishal (one), and as expected, both clubs presently lead the points table. However, once they began to play against teams of similar strength, they quickly achieved success, with fans flocking to every Sylhet game to cheer on their team.
On Sunday, Sylhet registered their second successive victory in the tournament when they beat Khulna Tigers by eight runs in a hard-fought contest and the victory came within 48 hours after they beat Dhaka Capitals by three wickets to open their account.
“When you play at home, there is a plus point as well as a negative point. I think the fans [of Sylhet Strikers] have so much emotion for their side and that’s why they get upset and when we play well, they say good things. I think it’s good because players also remain very energetic because of it,” said Sylhet skipper Ariful Haque, who was criticised heavily by the Sylheti fans for his poor captaincy at the start of the campaign but has now played two crucial cameos (13-ball 21 and 15-ball 28) in last two games to silent his critics.
Meanwhile, Khulna took a totally opposite route to Sylhet as they seemed to lose their initial momentum after coming here in Sylhet where they suffered back-to-back defeats.
Khulna started their tournament with successive victories over Chittagong Kings and Dhaka and they had a six-day break before starting their Sylhet phase. It seemed the layoff backfired for them as they lost both of their Sylhet phase games to Durbar Rajshahi and Sylhet, and now they will face league-leaders Rangpur, who won six successive matches so far in the meet, in their last Sylhet phase game today.
“I think it doesn’t matter. All are professional players. Still, It [the long break] can be an issue as T20 is a game of momentum. There can be a break in our momentum. Hopefully, we can get it again soon,” Abu Hider Rony, Khulna’s bowling all-rounder, said.
Records tumbled as Liton Das and Tanzid Tamim smashed centuries to propel Dhaka Capitals to 254-1 against Durbar Rajshahi in a Bangladesh Premier League group-stage encounter in Sylhet on Sunday.
*Dhaka Capitals’ 254-1 against Durbar Rajshahi is the highest team total in BPL history. The previous highest was Rangpur Riders’ 239-4 against Chattogram Vikings in Chattogram in 2019.
*Liton Das completed his maiden T20 hundred in just 44 balls which is the fastest by any Bangladeshi in the BPL history. It was also the joint-fastest hundred in BPL after Chris Gayle scored a 44-ball hundred against Sylhet Royals for Barisal Burners in Mirpur 2012. Ahmed Shehzad of Pakistan holds the record of fastest BPL hundred which he scored from 40 balls for Barishal Burners against Duronto Rajshahi in 2012.
*Liton and Tanzid Tamim’s 241-run opening partnership is the highest in BPL for any wicket. The previous highest was Gayle and Brandon McCullum’s unbroken 201-run stand for the second wicket for Rangpur Riders against Dhaka Dynamites in Mirpur in 2017. It is also the highest opening stand in any franchise-based T20 tournament, surpassing the previous best of Quinton de Kock and KL Rahul’s unbeaten 210 in an IPL game in 2022.
*Tanzid became only the second Bangladeshi batsman after Tamim Iqbal to score two hundreds in BPL history. Tanzid, who hit 108 off 64 balls against Rajshahi on Sunday, had previously scored 116 off 65 balls for Chattogram Challengers against Khulna Tigers at Chattogram in 2024.
*Liton’s undefeated 125 off 55 balls is the second-highest score by a Bangladeshi hitter in BPL history. Tamim holds the record for highest individual score, scoring an unbeaten 141 off 61 balls for the Comilla Victorians against the Dhaka Dynamites at Mirpur in 2019.
*This is only the second occasion in BPL history that two players from the same team have scored 100 in the same innings. The previous only incident occurred in 2019, when Rangpur Riders’ Alex Hales and Rilee Rossouw each scored 100 runs against Chittagong Vikings at Chattogram.
*Liton’s 44-ball century is the second fastest by a Bangladeshi in recognized T20s, trailing only Parvez Hossain Emon’s 42-ball century for Fortune Barishal against Minister Rajshahi in the 2020 Bangabandhu T20 Cup at Mirpur.
