Famous four face off today

The Bangladesh Premier League fixtures for today promises to provide plenty of excitement at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur with the four bigwigs of Bangladesh's cricket set to take on each other.

In the afternoon, Mushfiqur Rahim-led Barisal Bulls will take on Tamim Iqbal's Chittagong Vikings while Mashrafe Bin Mortaza's Comilla Victorians will take on Shakib Al Hasan's Dhaka Dynamites in the evening

With the teams having been selected based on a rotational process during the players' draft, there are no clear favourites in the fourth season of the BPL. Each team has its match-winners and it will be difficult to predict which team will have the edge.

Take, for instance, Mushfiqur's Barisal. They may not have the traditional 'star' T20 players in their team, but with a very balanced lineup, they could pose problems. Their bowling department seems stronger than their batting with Al-Amin Hossain, Kamrul Islam Rabbi, Abu Haider Ronnie and Taijul Islam. They also have a number of all-rounders in Dilshan Munaweera and Thisara Perera. It's a team that can do well no matter the conditions they face. And that is an aspect that Mushfiqur addressed while speaking to reporters in Mirpur yesterday.

“Honestly speaking, our team may not be very strong on paper. We don't have many stars, but we have players who can work as per the plan and prove to be vital in T20 cricket. Al-Amin is a very successful bowler, Ronnie was the highest wicket-taker last time and [Kamrul Islam] Rabbi is very talented too.

“We have got spinners too. On the whole, I think we have got a good team and I am happy,” said Mushfiqur.

Their opponents, Chittagong, have a similarly balanced setup. Apart from the players who played for Chittagong last year -- Tamim, Taskin Ahmed and Anamul Haque -- they have also included the likes of Abdur Razzak, Shubashis Roy and Jubair Hossain Likhon. With Tamim, Anamul Haque, Shoaib Malik, Jeevan Mendis and Mohammad Nabi in the team, their batting department seems slightly better than Mushfiqur's team. Had yesterday's game against Rajshahi Kings not been washed out, Mashrafe's Comilla could have had a slight advantage over Shakib's Dhaka today. However, with both teams set to play for the first time today, things could get interesting.

Comilla will depend mostly on their local players. They will expect Liton Das and Imrul Kayes to do the bulk of their scoring. From the foreign list, Ahmed Shahzad and all-rounder Ashar Zaidi will also be expected to contribute. They can also use the services of Afghanistan leg-spinner Rashid Khan who had troubled Bangladesh's batsmen earlier this year.

While Comilla won't have much trouble picking their foreign squad, Dhaka will. They have got Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene, Andre Russell, Dwayne Bravo, Seekkuge Prasanna and Ravi Bopara available.

Speaking to reporters yesterday, skipper Shakib said that it was going to be difficult to select the four overseas players for every game. It is however highly likely that the Dynamites will go in with Russell, Bravo and Sangakkara at least. The last spot could be a tussle and one that could be finalised based on the makeup of the local players.

With Mosaddek Hossain, Nasir Hossain, Mohammad Shahid and Sanjamul Islam, the local players can be quite a handful as well. The advantage that they have is that they have got a number of all-rounders in the team. The team could see a minimum of five all-rounders in the playing eleven.