Huge triumph for local coaches
Sylhet has a large group of local coaches led by Rajin Saleh. Mohammad Salahuddin is the settled man at the help for Comilla Victorians. Shohel Islam and Mizanur Rahman Babul are the head coaches of Rangpur Riders and Fortune Barishal. All four teams made it through to the qualifiers, giving local coaching a huge boost.
All four teams, in fact, have an all-Bangladeshi coaching staff. There’s been a recent push for local coaches to get bigger roles but the BCB has been reticent. Perhaps this BPL campaign can be the boost they needed.
Dhaka, Chattogram, Khulna exit feebly
It was a BPL to forget for the three teams that didn’t quality for the playoffs. All three finished on six points each but the gulf between them and the top four was a little too much. Chattogram Challengers finished at the bottom of the points table, as they couldn’t even get close to repeating their 2022 result of at least making it to the playoffs. Khulna Tigers and Dhaka Dominators looked out of sorts almost from the get-go.
Dhaka, the only new team with ownership this season, also struggled. They surprisingly opened the competition with a win against Khulna, but then lost six on the trot, before beating Khulna again in a low-scoring game. They won one out of the remaining four games, to finish with just three wins in the tournament.