Nickname(s): The Vikings Owner: DBL Group Manager Akram Khan | Coach: Mohammad Salahuddin Captain Tamim Iqbal City Chittagong | |
 | ||
Founded: 2012 as Chittagong Kings; rebranded 2015 Home ground: Zohur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium (capacity: 22,000) Secondary home ground(s) M. A. Aziz Stadium
(capacity: 30,000) Ground Zohur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium (capacity: 22,000) Profiles | ||
Chittagong vikings 2016 bangladesh premier league bpl season 4 team introduction
The Chittagong Vikings are a professional men's cricket team based in the city of Chittagong. The team compete in the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL), a professional Twenty20 cricket competition. The team plays its home games at ZAC Stadium and M.A. Aziz Stadium serves as the alternate venue.
Contents
- Chittagong vikings 2016 bangladesh premier league bpl season 4 team introduction
- History
- 2012 13 season
- 2013 14 season
- 2015 16 season
- 2016 17 season
- Rivalry
- Current squad
- References
An original member of the Bangladesh Premier League, the Vikings joined the league in 2012. The team changed its name from original Chittagong Kings after change of ownership in 2015. The team have appeared in the championship game in 2013 under the captaincy of Mahmudullah Riyad and coaching of Khaled Mahmud. The Vikings organization is led by Abdul Wahed since 2015, and has had three head coaches: Khaled Mahmud, Marvan Atapattu and Mohammad Salahuddin. The team is currently captained by Tamim Iqbal and coached by Mohammad Salahuddin.
Anamul Haque is currently the leading run-scorer for the team with 762 runs at an average of 24.58, while captain Tamim Iqbal closely follows with 693 runs at an average of 30.13. Afghan all-rounder Mohammad Nabi is the leading wicket taker with 32 wickets. Among the participating teams, the Vikings are the second most valuable team, valued at US$26 million.
History
In 2011, the Bangladesh Cricket Board announced the establishment of the Bangladesh Premier League,a Twenty20 cricket leagueto be started in 2012. In 10 January 2012, the tournament committee held an auction, inviting interested companies to buy the six franchises. The Chittagong Vikings was sold to SQ Sports for $1.2 million annually, making it the most expensive team in the first season of the league. The team signed 19 players for the first season with a salary cap of US$1.3 million.
2012-13 season
In the inaugural season, the Kings' "icon player" was Tamim Iqbal and the team was captained by all rounder Mahmudullah. The team was managed by Australian Michael Bevan and the head coach was the former Bangladesh captain Khaled Mahmud. Dean Jones was the technical director.
The Kings started the tournament well with a Chris Gayle century in the opening match against Duronto Rajshahi. They posted a total of 206 with captain Mahmudullah scoring a brisk fifty. The bowling was also successful as they bowled out Rajshahi inside the twenty overs. They won their next game with Nasir Jamshed making 86 not out in quick time. They lost against the Dhaka Gladiators after a fine performance by Kieron Pollard changed the course of the game. The Kings then won the next two games thanks to good bowling efforts.
Batting failures caused losses on home turf even when chasing modest totals. The Kings held their nerve to win against Dhaka Gladiators with good bowling but then lost against the bottom team Sylhet Royals, Sohail Tanvir doing the damage. The penultimate game against Barisal Burners was lost too as the bowling to Brad Hodge was poor. This loss cost Chittagong a place in the semi finals.
The season ended in confusion and controversy. The semi-final fixture format was first in the league against fourth in one match, and second against third in the other. Duronto Rajshahi finished first with 14 points and Khulna Royal Bengals were second with twelve. Third place was shared by the Kings, the Gladiators and the Barisal Burners who had ten points each. The tie-break rules were misinterpreted and there were incorrect announcements about the semi-final matchups which had to be withdrawn. In the end, the Kings were placed fifth on the criteria of wins against their tie-break opponents and net run rate. Subsequently, the owner filed a High Court petition to try and get an injunction placed on the Rajshahi-Barisal semi-final but his petition was overturned.
2013-14 season
During the second season of the tournament, Mahmudullah Riyad was retained as the captain of the team. The icon player from the first season, Tamim Iqbal was traded to Duronto Rajshahi. The Kings started the season with a defeat against Duronto Rajshahi in a low scoring game. However, the team ended third in the regular season. The Kings reached the championship game against Dhaka Gladiators, and losing by 43 runs, Chittagong Kings ended up as the runner-up of the tournament. Ryan ten Doeschate was the leading run scorer and Enamul Haque Jnr. was the leading wicket taker.
2015-16 season
The team returned to the third season with a new administration and management. The team ownership was taken over by DBL Group at US$26 million, taking it the second biggest contract deal in the league. The team started the season against Rangpur Riders, with a game ending in favor of the Riders in last-ball thriller. Throughout the season, the Vikings managed to win only two games, making it the worst season in history of the Bangladesh Premier League. The team was captained by Tamim Iqbal and coached by Marvan Atapattu. The team was headlined for drafting controversial Mohammad Amir, who made a comeback to International cricket after being suspended for five years for spot fixing.
The team signed nine overseas players for the third season. Tillakaratne Dilshan, Jeevan Mendis and Chamara Kapugedera from Sri Lanka, Kamran Akmal, Umar Akmal, Saeed Ajmal and Mohammad Amir from Pakistan, Elton Chigumbura from Zimbabwe, and Robin Peterson from South Africa.
2016-17 season
The Vikings returned to the 4th season of the league, only retaining three players from the previous season. Tamim Iqbal will continue as the captain of the team, with a drastic change in the management. Due to failure in previous season, contract of Marvan Atapattu was not renewed, and Mohammad Salahuddin was appointed as the coach, who coached defending champions Comilla Victorians last season. Chris Gayle, Dwayne Smith, Shoaib Malik and Grant Elliott were bought under the contract for the fourth season.
Rivalry
In terms of number of games played, the Vikings have competed most against the Dhaka Dynamites and Rangpur Riders, and also enjoys a healthy rivalry with Comilla Victorians. Chittagong Vikings-Dhaka Dynamites rivalry origins from the rivalry between Dhaka and Chittagong, two largest cities in Bangladesh. Being the two largest cities in Chittagong Division, Comilla and Chittagong also have a rivalry.