Khulna Tigers

Khulna Tigers (Bengali: খুলনা টাইগার্স) are a franchise Twenty20 cricket team representing the Khulna division in the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL), a Twenty20 cricket tournament. The franchise was owned by Gemcon Sports and was founded in 2016 as a replacement for the Khulna Royal Bengals who had participated in the first two seasons of the BPL. The Titans use Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium, Sylhet International Cricket Stadium and Zohur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium for home games.

Khulna Tigers
খুলনা টাইগার্স
Nickname(s)Ready To Roar
LeagueBangladesh Premier League
Personnel
Captain Mushfiqur Rahim
Coach James Foster
OwnerBangladesh Cricket Board (2019–20)
Team information
CityKhulna, Khulna Division, Bangladesh
Colours
Founded2012 (as Khulna Royal Bengals); 2016 (as Khulna Titans)
History
Bangladesh Premier League wins0

T20I kit

As of the 2016/17 season, the team is captained by Mahmudullah Riyad and coached by Stuart Law. The primary home ground of the team is the Sheikh Abu Naser Stadium in Khulna City.[1]

For the 2017/18 Bangladesh Premier League season Mahela Jayawardene was appointed as the head coach replacing Stuart Law who took up duties as the head coach of West Indies cricket team.[2]

On 16 November 2019, Premier Bank Limited was named as the sponsor of the team and it was renamed to Khulna Tigers.[3]

History

The Khulna Royal Bengals team was originally formed by Orion Group and participated in the first two seasons of the Bangladesh Premier League in 2011/12 and 2012/13. Following the suspension of all of the BPL franchises following a range of financial and spot-fixing issues during the second season of the league, the original franchise was not re-established for the third season of the BPL in 2015/16.

Season overview

2011/12

Khulna Royal Bengals forged a strong side with the likes of Shakib Al Hasan as captain and some other well known players such as Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Dwayne Smith and Herschelle Gibbs. In the league stage, the team was pretty outstanding, advancing to the playoffs finishing only second to Dhaka Gladiators. However, they lost a cliffhanger to Dhaka in the semi finals, finishing off with a respectable outing

2012/13

After a strong last season, Khulna could not make a team as strong as their previous campaign. This time they have Shahriar Nafees as captain who had Riki Wessels, Shapoor Zadran and more as company. Khulna had a disastrous season this time. Losing 75% of their 12 matches, finishing last at 7th.

2016/17

After a complete change in the franchise ownership and management Khulna Titans were established in advance of the 2016–17 Bangladesh Premier League. They had a stable team with the likes of sume talented Bangladeshi players such as Mahmudullah (icon), Shafiul Islam, Ariful Haque, Mosharraf Hossain. They added 9 overseas to their roster such as Riki Wessels, Junaid Khan, Lendl Simmons, Nicholas Pooran and Andre Fletcher. They were able to get to the playoffs but were defeated by both Rajshahi Kings and Dhaka Dynamites. They ended up second in the team rankings with Junaid Khan as their leading wicket-taker and Mahmudullah as the leading scorer. They won nail-biting encounters against Chittagong Vikings and Rajshahi Kings in the league stage. They finished with being known as 'the team with the best bowling attack' as two of their seamers (Junaid and Shafiul) were in the top 10 most wickets list for the tournament and had a rather disappointing Batting lineup as most batter failed to show their potential other than Ariful and their icon.

2017/18

They re-signed Mahmudullah Riyad as their icon while they also made contracts with South African cricketers Rilee Rossouw, Kyle Abbott, Aussie star Chris Lynn (will miss BPL due to injury), Windies's 2016 ICC World T20 hero Carlos Brathwaite and his national teammate Chadwick Walton. They also signed Englishman Dawid Malan and Lankan all-rounder Seekkuge Prasanna and more. They retained Junaid Khan, Ariful Haque, Shafiul Islam, Mosharraf Hossain Rubel and Benny Howell. Pakistani Wicket-Keeper batsman Sarfraz Ahmed, leg spinner Shadab Khan and Junaid will be unavailable for selection on a temporary basis due to domestic commitments.

From the draft, the Titans signed 8 locals (more than minimum of 7) and 2 foreigners. Their first pick was bought Nazmul Hossain Shanto while the surprise picks were U19 skipper Saif Hassan and little-known local pacer Imran Ali and Barbados-born English cricketer Jofra Archer. The interesting thing about Imran is that he took a 5-wicket haul in his second List-A match. They signed Sri Lankan batting all-rounder Shehan Jayasuriya and other locals from the draft.

Khulna Titans had the strong start with a win against Sylhet Sixers. The team was pretty consistent throughout the tournament and finished 3rd in the league stage, hence qualifying to the playoffs. In the eliminator against Rangpur Riders a one-man show from Chris Gayle, who struck an unbeaten 126, blew the Titans away and had them eliminated.

2018/19

Khulna Titans retained Mahmudullah Riyad, Nazmul Hossain Shanto, Ariful Haque and Carlos Brathwaite. They also signed English batsman Dawid Malan and American fast bowler Ali Khan pre-draft.

In the draft, the Titans got the very first pick and signed wicket-keeper batsman Jahurul Islam. Their overseas signings in the draft included veteran seamer Lasith Malinga, leg-spinner Yasir Shah, wicket-keeper batsman Brendan Taylor and more. Some of their domestic picks were Junaid Siddiqui, Subashis Roy, Taijul Islam, the young left-arm seamer Shoriful Islam and more.

2019/20

The franchise had signed former Australian captain and all-rounder Shane Watson and South African leg spinner Imran Tahir as their two direct overseas signings.[4][5]

However, During the player's direct signing period, a Conflict of Interests aroused between BCB and all other franchise. Subsequently, in September 2019, BCB made some changes in rules and regulations for this season and eliminating all franchises, BCB took over the charge of the current BPL and decided to run this current tournament by the board itself and named the tournament as Bangabandhu BPL T20 2019 in order to pay homage to Sheikh Mujibur Rahman on his birth centenary.[6] Premier Bank Limited became the team sponsor of Khulna. They renamed it to ‘Khulna Tigers’.[7] They have signed the likes of Mushfiqur Rahim and Mohammad Amir in the draft.

Records

Year Bangladesh Premier League
2012 Semi-finals
2013 League stage
2016 Playoffs
2017 Playoffs
2019 League stage
2019-20 Runners-up

Kit manufacturers and sponsors

Year Kit Manufacturers Shirt Sponsor (Chest) Shirt Sponsor (Back) Chest Branding
2016 Gemcon Sports PRAN Zeera Pani Meena Bazar ULAB
2017 Shell Lubricants Gemcon City Limited Meena Bazar
2019 ULAB Shell Lubricants Minister Smart TV
2020 Premier Bank Limited Al-Arafah Islami Bank Limited; WE Igloo Ice Cream

Current squad

  • Players with international caps are listed in bold.
  •  *  denotes a player who is currently unavailable for selection.
  •  *  denotes a player who is unavailable for rest of the season
No. Name Nat Birth date Batting style Bowling style Signed year Notes
Batsmen
17Najmul Hossain Shanto (1998-05-25) 25 May 1998Left-handedSlow left-arm orthodox2017
80Shamsur Rahman (1988-06-05) 5 June 1988Right-handedRight-arm off break2019
88Saif Hassan (1998-10-30) 30 October 1998Right-handed2019
27Rilee Rossouw (1989-10-09) 9 October 1989Left-handedRight-arm off break2019Overseas
1Najibullah Zadran (1993-02-18) 18 February 1993Left-handedRight-arm off break2019Overseas
99Hashim Amla (1983-03-31) 31 March 1983Right-handedRight-arm off break medium-fast2019Overseas
All-rounders
53Mehedi Hasan (1997-10-25) 25 October 1997Right-handedRight-arm off break2019
7Aminul Islam (1999-11-06) 6 November 1999Right-handedleg break googly2019
84Robert Frylinck (1984-09-27) 27 September 1984Right-handedRight-arm medium2019Overseas
13Wanindu Hasaranga (1997-07-29) 29 July 1997Right-handedLeg break2019Overseas
34Aamer Yamin (1990-06-26) 26 June 1990Left-handedRight-arm medium-fast2019Overseas
28Alauddin Babu (1991-12-05) 5 December 1991Right-handedRight-arm medium-fast2019
Wicket-keepers
15Mushfiqur Rahim (1987-06-09) 9 June 1987Right-handed2019Captain
100Rahmanullah Gurbaz (2001-11-28) 28 November 2001Right-handed2019Overseas
Bowlers
13Shafiul Islam (1989-10-06) 6 October 1989Right-handedRight-arm medium-fast2019
5Mohammad Amir (1992-04-13) 13 April 1992Left-handedLeft-arm fast2019Overseas
14Shahidul Islam (1995-01-05) 5 January 1995Right-handedRight-arm medium2019
47Aliss Islam (1996-12-12) 12 December 1996Right-handedRight-arm off break2019
19Tanvir Islam (1996-10-25) 25 October 1996Left-handedSlow left-arm orthodox2017

Administration and Support Staff

References

  1. "Khulna Titans target exciting cricket in BPL". Dhaka Tribune. 29 September 2016. Retrieved 30 September 2016.
  2. "Mahela Jayawardene named coach of Bangladesh Premier League side Khulna Titans".
  3. "7 teams announced for Bangabandhu BPL". daily Bangladesh. 16 November 2019.
  4. Atif Azam (18 July 2019). "Shane Watson signs for Khulna Titans". Cricbuzz.
  5. "Imran Tahir is assigned to play the BPL". Newsbeezer.com. 3 July 2019.
  6. "BCB to conduct T20 tournament instead of BPL after fallout with franchises". Cricbuzz. 11 September 2019.
  7. "Bangabandhu BPL T20 2019 squads". Bangladesh Cricket Board. 17 November 2019.
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