BPL 2017 Qualifier 2 Preview: Comilla Victorians challenge Rangpur Riders for the final spot

Comilla Victorians and Rangpur Riders will face each other tomorrow in Qualifier 2 of the 5th edition of the Bangladesh Premier League. While Rangpur have come into this round on a high after bullying Khulna Titans in the Eliminator, the same can’t be said about Comilla who played absolutely horribly in Qualifier 1 after topping the table in the league stage of the tournament and have now got themselves into a must-win situation.

A loss here will be the end of the road for both teams, while if they win, they will make their way to the final where Dhaka Dynamites are awaiting them. The match will take place at the Sher-e-Bangla Stadium, Dhaka where the previous two playoff games took place as well.

Comilla Victorians (Predicted XI): Tamim Iqbal (C), Liton Das (WK), Jos Buttler, Imrul Kayes, Marlon Samuels, Shoaib Malik, Dwayne Bravo, Mohammad Saifuddin, Hasan Ali, Mehedy Hasan, Al-Amin Hossain

Rangpur Riders (Predicted XI): Chris Gayle, Sohag Gazi, Brendon McCullum, Mohammad Mithun (WK), Johnson Charles, Ravi Bopara, Nahidul Islam, Mashrafe Mortaza (C), Nazmul Islam, Lasith Malinga, Rubel Hossain

Focus will be on

Hasan Ali (Comilla)

Comilla might have been beaten hands down by Dhaka Dynamites in Qualifier 1, but Hasan Ali’s performance in that game was remarkable. The Pakistan quick was at the top of his game as he gave away just 16 runs in his 4 overs and dismissed 3 Dhaka batsmen. If it was not for him, Dhaka would have easily scored 200 plus and Comilla would have lost by a much bigger margin. They would want their premier paceman to replicate that performance in Qualifier 2 as well and dent Rangpur’s batting.

Chris Gayle (Rangpur)

Brutal, that’s the only word which can be used to define Chris Gayle’s innings in the eliminator. He just bullied the bowlers, nobody could do anything, good balls were disappearing out of the park, it was just one of those nights for the universe boss where he was unstoppable and the Rangpur think tank would be praying he remains in the same zone on Sunday as well.

Playing composition

Comilla Victorians

Comilla despite suffering such a huge defeat in the last game is likely to go with the same XI tomorrow as that’s the best possible combination they have. They would perhaps like to shuffle with the batting positions a little bit and send Shoaib Malik slightly up the order for he is a good player of spin and can manipulate the strike really well through the middle overs. Jos Buttler, who was sent in at 3 in Qualifier 1, can be more effective lower down the order after a platform is set for him.

Rangpur Riders

Rangpur Riders are not expected to make any changes in their playing XI either, however, they may like to promote one out of Brendon McCullum or Johnson Charles to open the batting rather than Sohag Gazi who was Gayle’s opening partner in the last game.

Also, they would like their bowling trump card Lasith Malinga to fire in this crunch game. The Sri Lankan veteran was horribly out of sorts in the eliminator where he was taken for 49 runs in his 4 overs.