Chittagong Vikings
| Chittagong Vikings | |
|---|---|
| চিটাগাং ভাইকিংস | |
 | |
| Nickname(s): | The Vikings |
| Captain: |
 Tamim Iqbal |
| Coach: |
 Marvan Atapattu |
| City: | Chittagong, Bangladesh |
| Colors: |
 |
| Owner: | DBL Group |
| Founded: | 2015 |
| Home ground: |
Zohur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium (Capacity: 22,000) |
| Secondary home ground(s) |
MA Aziz Stadium (Capacity: 30,000) |
| Manager: |
Akram Khan |
| BPL wins: | 0 |
| Official website: | Vikings' Official Website |
Chittagong Vikings is a franchise cricket team based on Chittagong, Bangladesh in the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL). The primary home ground of the Vikings is Zohur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium while the team also plays few games at M. A. Aziz Stadium. The team is captained by Bangladeshi opener Tamim Iqbal and coached by Aaqib Javed.
The team was known as Chittagong Kings for the first two edition of the tournament, and owned by SQ Sports Limited. In 2015, the ownership was transferred to DBL Group and renamed to Chittagong Vikings. With worth of $5.30 million, The Vikings are the second most expensive team of Bangladesh Premier League.
History
In 2012, The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) created the cricket tournament Bangladesh Premier League based on the Twenty20 form of the game. For the inaugural tournament held in February of the same year, a list of 6 teams who will be participating in the tournament was finalized. The teams representing 2 different divisions of Bangladesh, including Chittagong, were put up on auction in Radisson Hotels on 19 January. Chittagong Kings was bought by SQ Sports for a price of USD 1.2 million which was the most expensive buy of the six franchises.
BPL One (2012)
For the inaugural year icon player was Tamim Iqbal but was captained by allrounder Mahmudullah. For season one, team was managed by the Australian legend Michael Bevan and the head coach was the former Bangladesh captain Khaled Mahmud and Dean Jones was the technical director.
The Kings started off the tournament with a bang after Chris Gayle century. They posted a total of 206 with captain Mahmudullah scoring a brisk fifty. They proved their bowling was in good nick by bowling out Duronto Rajshahi within twenty overs. They won their next game with Nasir Jamshed making 86 not out in quick time. However they lost their groove against the Dhaka Gladiators with Pollard blowing the Kings away from a game which was the Kings. But they were on their winning ways winning the next two games on the trot by good bowling efforts.
But for the next games batting failures lead to loses on home turf chasing modest totals. The Kings held their nerve to win against Dhaka Gladiators with superb bowling. However the then lost against the bottom Sylhet Royals with Sohail Tanvir doing the damage. But the penultimate game against Barisal Burners was lost as the bowling was very poor against Brad Hodge. This lose cost Chittagong a place in the semi finals.
- Semi final confusion
The first semi-final of the BPL will have the team that finished first in the league playing the team that finished fourth. Duronto Rajshahi finished first, with 14 points, but until 2.00 am on the morning of the semi-final, it wasn't clear who finished fourth. Initially, it was announced that Barisal Burners were through to the semis, after their victory against Chittagong Kings, on the basis of net run-rate. At that point, the other two spots were going to be contested between Chittagong Kings, Khulna Royal Bengals and Dhaka Gladiators. The next day, after Dhaka lost narrowly to Rajshahi and Khulna beat Sylhet Royals, Khulna went to second place with 12 points, leaving Dhaka, Barisal and Chittagong tied on 10 points at the end of the league phase. In the head-to-head results between the teams level on 10 points, Dhaka had beaten Barisal twice and Chittagong once and had a superior net-run rate and qualified for the semi-finals in third place. That now left Chittagong and Barisal in contention for the fourth spot. It was initially announced that Chittagong were in the semi-finals, presumably on the basis of a better head-to-head record in the three-way tie on 10 points, which included Dhaka. At 2.45 am of the game, however, the BPL issued a release which said that Barisal was the fourth semi-finalist, presumably because their head-to-head record with Chittagong. The decision was taken according to the rules and regulations of BPL which was announced before the tournament launch. According to the rules and regulations, if more than two teams tie at same points during group stage, the first preference is the number of wins of the teams during group stage. Dhaka, Chittagong and Barishal had 5 wins each. The second preference was the net run-rate of the teams and according to that Dhaka Gladiators was placed third, Barisal Burners was placed fourth and Chittagong Kings were eliminated by being placed fifth.[1]
- File writ with High Court
Chittagong Kings, one of the famous teams of the Bangladesh Premier League, Wednesday filed a writ petition with the High Court seeking stay order on final match of the league. Chief Executive of Chittagong Kings Samir Qader Chowdhury filed the writ. The hearing on the writ petition will be held in an HC bench comprising Justice Mirza Hossain Haider and Mohammad Khorshed Alam in the afternoon. Barrister Rokonuddin Mahmud will move for the petitioner in the hearing of the writ. Earlier in the day, the Chittagong Kings filed a case against authorities of Bangladesh Premier League asking the court’s direction to declare the semifinal match between Barisal Burners and Duronto Rajshahi. Chief executive of Chittagong Kings Samiul Qader filed the case with first Assistant Judge Court of Dhaka. Four persons were made respondents in the case, including BPL secretary Siraj Uddin Alamgir. But the court rejected the embargo plea on the final match. Judge M Shawkat Ali fixed 15 March for the hearing on the case.
BPL Two (2013)
This season due to new auction, the team is totally changed from the last season, although Mahmudullah, Kevon Cooper, Brendan Taylor is in the team again, with some other familiar face, the ensemble casts around him includes Dutch allrounder Ryan ten Doeschate, Kiwi legend allrounder Jacob Oram, British middle order batsmen Ravi Bopara, Pakistani Pace spearhead Wahab Riaz. The team also secured the services of old player Dwayne Bravo along with Pakistani dashing Opener Imran Nazir. Later, they bought Australian speed demon Shaun Tait who was unsold at the auction. Before the start of the tournament, Pakistan Cricket Board refused to issue No Objection Certificates (NOCs). None of the 26 Pakistan players auctioned in second season's 2013 Bangladesh Premier League took part in the Twenty20 competition. They also bought David Miller, Shehan Jayasuriya, Dilhara Lokuhettige as a replacement player.
Lara as ambassador
Brian Lara has been unveiled as the brand ambassador of Chittagong Kings for the second season of the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) and the former West Indies batsman believes the franchise system will widen the net to find talented cricketers across the world. He will accompany the Kings' ownership in commercial and promotional activities, but is not likely to have a coaching role. But he will be sought out by the young players in the squad for batting tips, especially the local ones who are extremely eager to have a player who scored 11,953 Test runs and 10,405 in ODIs at such close proximity.
"I love the invention of the franchise teams," Lara said. "I think it takes away a lot of control that the individual boards have. It brings about a lot of income for the players and also for the owners, and you see a lot more people coming to watch the T20 game. That in itself has a lot of benefit and goes down to the grassroots level.
"In the West Indies we found it very difficult to get teenage cricketers playing. We are now launching our own T20 franchise cricket and hopefully that will see a lot more youngsters get the opportunity to advance."
Lara has supported the similar concept in Zimbabwe, where he played a few games two years ago. He cited the example of Viv Richards, who was in Australia's Big Bash League, as a means for legends to spread the word. "As a former cricketer you want to give something back," he said. "I was in Zimbabwe a few years back and supported them in their game at the Test level and at the one-day level, I actually even played in their T20 competition.
"But it's just a matter of wanting to get back. You saw Viv Richards in Australia recently. There have been a couple of other players in the world. I am quite happy to do something like this. The younger players who are not up to their highest standards, I think I get a lot more benefit or satisfaction to helping a team that needs someone like myself."
The game will be popular, he believed, but not at the cost of other formats. "I believe now with T20 cricket, a lot more people are watching the game. Just remember, we are all entertainers," he said. "If this kind of cricket brings interest to the people, cricketers will be happy to indulge in it. Test cricket is still important, so are ODIs, but T20 should be there too because of the crowd factor."
During the inaugural season of the BPL, former Australia players Michael Bevan and Dean Jones were part of the Chittagong Kings, as batting coach and technical director respectively.
Packed stadiums at Chittagong
The arrival of the second edition of BPL in Bangladesh's second-largest city completely changed the complexion of the Twenty20 tournament. The first match at the venue, between the home side (Chittagong Kings) and Sylhet Royals, was played in front of a packed house and nearly all matches over the next five days saw full houses. The chief reason is the central location of the MA Aziz Stadium, which is seeing some cricketing action after hosting football for most of the last eight years. International cricket is played at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in the western corner of Chittagong. Though certain roads leading up to the venue were cordoned off, the spectators lined up two hours before the game. There were also rumours of slashed ticket prices, which attracted a sizeable amount of students from nearby educational institutions. On the final day, when the Kings took on Dhaka Gladiators, there was barely any room to stand in the general galleries.
Livery
Vikings were seafaring warriors who traveled to many parts of the world and conquered them. The Vikings were always on the move and never settled. They were known for being tenacious warriors and the battles they fought were legendary. The Chittagong Vikings are fierce warriors as well who play every game with dedication and the team spirit. They never give up and they are hungry for wins, just as their namesake.
Overall records
| Year | Matches | Wins | Losses | No Result | Run Rate | Summary |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | 10 | 4 | 6 | 0 | +0.078 | Fifth (of six) |
| 2013 | 12 | 6 | 6 | 0 | +1.410 | Runner-up |
| 2014 | | |||||
| 2015 | 10 | 2 | 8 | 0 | -0.844 | Sixth (of six) |
| 2016 | 14 | - | - | - | - | - |
Sponsorship
| Kit | Period | Kit manufacturer | Shirt sponsor | Sleeve sponsor |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012-14 | Ecstasy | SQ Sports | Regent Airways | |
| 2015 | DBL Apparels | Citibank Bangladesh | Steeltech | |
| 2016 | ||||
- Media Partner: Channel I
- Radio Partner: Radio Foorti 88.0 FM
- Platinum Sponsor: Citibank Bangladesh
- Gold Sponsor: Steeltech
- Silver Sponsor: Heidelberg Cement
- Airline Partner: Regent Airways
Administration and support staff
- Owners: Abdul Wahed, Abdul Rahim (DBL Group)
- Brand Ambassador: Ayub Bachchu, Kumar Bishwajit, Partha Barua, Nasim Khan, Ibrar Tipu
- CEO and Managing Director: Abdul Jabbar
- Deputy Director: Abdul Quader
- Coach – Marvan Atapattu
- Advisor – Akram Khan
Current squad
| Name | Nat | Batting Style | Bowling Style | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Batsmen | ||||||
| Tamim Iqbal (c) | | Left-hand bat | Right arm off break | Icon Player, International Cap | ||
| Tillakaratne Dilshan (vk) | | Right-hand bat | Right-arm off break | International Cap | ||
| Nafees Iqbal | | Right-hand bat | Right-arm medium | International Cap | ||
| Anamul Haque | | Right-hand bat | Wicketkeeper | Wicketkeeper & International Cap | ||
| Umar Akmal |  | Right-hand bat | Right-arm off break | International Cap | ||
| Kamran Akmal | | Right-hand bat | Right-arm off break | International Cap | ||
| Naeem Islam | | Right-hand bat | Right-arm off break | International Cap | ||
| Yasir Ali | | Right-hand bat | Right arm off break | |||
| Swapnil Patil |  | Right-hand bat | International Cap | |||
| All-Rounders | ||||||
| Jeevan Mendis | | Left-hand bat | Right-arm leg break | International Cap | ||
| Chamara Kapugedera | | Right-hand bat | Right-arm medium | International Cap | ||
| Asif Ahmed | | Right-hand bat | Right-arm offbreak | |||
| Ziaur Rahman | | Right-hand bat | Right-arm medium-fast | International Cap | ||
| Elton Chigumbura |  | Right-hand bat | Right-arm medium-fast | International Cap | ||
| Bowlers | ||||||
| Robin Peterson |  | Left-hand bat | Slow left arm orthodox | International Cap | ||
| Shafiul Islam | | Right-hand bat | Right-arm medium-fast | International Cap | ||
| Enamul Haque Jr | | Right-hand bat | Slow left arm orthodox | International Cap | ||
| Saeed Ajmal | | Right-hand bat | Right-arm off break | International Cap | ||
| Elias Sunny | | Left-hand bat | Slow left arm orthodox | International Cap | ||
| Mohammad Amir | | Left-hand bat | Left-arm fast | International Cap | ||
| Taskin Ahmed | | Left-hand bat | Right-arm fast | International Cap | ||
| Robiul Islam | | Right-hand bat | Right-arm fast-medium | International Cap | ||
References
External links
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