Sylhet Strikers miss Mashrafe at home ground

Sylhet Strikers have always been closely associated with Mashrafe Bin Mortaza.

The team's debut in the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) was under his leadership, and for the past two seasons, Mashrafe has played a pivotal role not only on the field but also in managing the team, arranging sponsorships, and handling players' payments.

This year too, Sylhet brought him in from the draft, continuing his association with the team.

However, Mashrafe is not part of the team for the 11th edition of the BPL, and his absence is being felt deeply. As Sylhet Strikers take the field in their home city, the question on everyone's mind has been about Mashrafe. This query was addressed by Sylhet's fielding coach, Dollar Mahmud, who admitted that the team certainly misses him.

After playing a match at Mirpur Shere Bangla National Cricket Stadium, Sylhet Strikers travelled to their home ground in Sylhet. Following their loss to Rangpur Riders in their opening match, the team is eager to return to winning ways on home turf. While the majority of the spectators in the stands are expected to be their supporters, Mashrafe's absence remains a topic of discussion. When asked about it, Dollar Mahmud said, "Yes, of course. We miss him."

Sylhet is playing at home, and many from the local crowd are expected to cheer them on. What can the supporters expect from the team? In response, Dollar Mahmud said, "We've only played one match so far. Of course, expectations are high here. The good thing is that we're playing at home. Although in the BPL, there's no real concept of a home ground, still… our preparations have been good, we came here early. The local crowd support will definitely help us. What we need to do is make sure the players deliver their best in the right areas, and I hope we'll come back with a win."

This year's Sylhet team doesn't feature any major stars, but it does have some effective players. Regarding the message the coaching staff is sending to the players, Dollar Mahmud explained, "The message is always the same: play your natural cricket and give your best from your position. As you mentioned, we don't have big players, but we've built a team with those available to us. Especially our foreign players, and the local players who are performing well in this format. I'm confident they'll deliver their best."

Despite not assembling a star-studded team, Sylhet is not ruling itself out of the title race. Dollar Mahmud shared their plans, saying, "Inshallah, the title is still a distant goal. We'll take it match by match and see how we can give our best. For every team, a lot depends on the local players because the foreigners come and go. But one good thing for us is that our foreign players will be with us. After a few more matches, we'll be able to assess where our team's strengths and weaknesses lie. I hope good things will come our way."

Having played only one match in the Dhaka phase, Sylhet's sole fixture thus far ended in a 34-run loss to Rangpur Riders. Their first opponents on home ground will again be Rangpur on 6 January at 1:30 PM. Acknowledging the strength of the opposition, Sylhet's fielding coach said, "Rangpur is a strong team. They played well in the last match, and if we had performed better in certain areas, the result could have been in our favour. We'll try to play good cricket."