Chittagong's unending tale of misery

Tournament overview

What ultimately cost Chittagong Vikings were the four defeats in a row after they won their first game against the Sylhet Super Stars. Two of those losses were at their home ground, after which they beat Sylhet again. But at no stage did they look like a team in contention.

Much depended on Tamim Iqbal right from the outset, and remained that way till the end. Whenever Tamim made runs at the top, Chittagong looked a threat. His partnership with Tillakaratne Dilshan - they put together three fifty plus stands and a century stand that resulted in a 10-wicket win - was one of the highlights of their campaign. While the flagbearers stood up, the likes of Anamul Haque, Asif Ahmed, Ziaur Rahman and Taskin Ahmed couldn't perform up to the level expected of the local players. If that was bad enough, worse was how the Akmal brothers - Umar and Kamran - Saeed Ajmal and Elton Chigumbura fared.

Tamim was left disappointed after they lost to Dhaka Dynamites on Tuesday by 45 runs, and repeated a phrase he used earlier in the competition: "We can buy players, but not performances." This has been the theme of Chittagong right from the start, where they lost to Rangpur Riders despite ruling much of the game. They won the next game on the back of a needless controversy and then went on to lose to Comilla Victorians, Dhaka Dynamites, Barisal Bulls and Rangpur in consecutive matches. There seemed to be very little that they could have done other than hope that Tamim scores and Mohammad Amir get them out of tough situations with the ball, which he did to an extent.

Their fielding too was poor at times, something that cost Asif his place in the team. Naeem Islam did a job with the bat and occasionally with the ball but it was never enough.

High point

Chittagong were at the receiving end of one of the worst controversies in the BPL, when the Sylhet franchise sent Ravi Bopara and Josh Cobb to play without naming them in the playing XI at the toss. The fiasco took over an hour to solve and it got uglier as Tamim later alleged that one of the Sylhet owners abused him during the stand-off. But to his credit, Tamim played a handy knock and Chittagong held on to clinch a thriller.

Low point

Their most uninspiring performance was when they were bowled out for 92 against Dhaka Dynamites. The collapse started when Tamim was wrongfully given out caught down the leg side, a blow from which they could not recover. Naeem played the sort of anchor role, 29 off 38, that had no place in a T20.

Top of the class

Mohammad Amir was always going to be a much-talked about acquisition considering the BPL was to be his first tournament out of Pakistan since being allowed to play cricket after a five-year spot-fixing ban. His performance for Chittagong - 14 wickets at an average of 12.64 from nine games - has given the PCB reason enough to get him to play for Pakistan A and perhaps the senior side shortly. His most memorable wickets were be the yorker to Misbah-ul-Haq in the first match and the late outswinger that took Shahid Afridi's off-bail and the ball slamming into the sightscreen.

Under-par performer

Anamul Haque was Chittagong's first draft pick back in October. But his 114 runs in the eight innings hardly paid back the faith shown in him by the franchise owners and the team management. He started off with scores of 36 and 39 not out in the first three games but made scores of 1, 12, 14, 0 and 9 in the remainder of the tournament. There was concern before the tournament about his adaptability, and he did little to change that perception.

Tip for 2016

Apart from Tamim Iqbal and Shafiul Islam, none of Chittagong's local players did well in the tournament. Their collection of overseas players should also have been a bit more about performers and less about reputations. Despite the early exit, the franchise owners DBL Group are said to be interested to build this team next season and beyond, while Tamim too has said that he wants to play for this team. A better approach to team selection would be paramount.