The Bangladesh Premier League 2015 T20 cricket tournament returns to Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Dhaka on Sunday, and fans can watch live online as the final phase of the 30-match season gets underway with two matches that could go a long way toward determining position or even qualification for the four-match playoff that will crown a third BPL champion on December 15.
But much of the attention on Sunday focused on the first match of the day’s doubleheader when the second-place Barisal Bulls will debut the newest addition to their batting lineup, West Indies living legend Chris Gayle, one of the world’s most exciting big hitters.
Gayle will be going head to head with the Sylhet Super Stars’ own powerful batsman, Pakistan great Shahid “Boom Boom” Afridi. But while Gayle will be appearing in his fist BPL 2015 match, after four months recovering from injury since he last played in the final of the Caribbean Premier League in July, Afridi has already made an impression on his 2015 Bangladesh Premier League debut.
Though it came in a losing effort, Afridi tallied 62 runs off of just 41 balls on December 2, in a match against Chittagong Vikings in Chittagong. Watch highlights of Afridi’s eye-popping performance in the video below, at the bottom of this page.
Look who stepped in town this afternoon! @henrygayle is in Dhaka and he has a plan, “Hit sixes”. #BPL2015 pic.twitter.com/IJcKnRp0kJ
— Bangladesh Cricket (@BCBtigers) December 4, 2015
To find out how to watch the December 9 Bangladesh Premier League Phase Three final day doubleheader, Comilla Victorians vs. Sylhet Super Stars and Barisal Bulls vs. Dhaka Dynamites, see the streaming link in the final paragraph of this article. First ball for the Victorians vs. Super Stars is scheduled for 2 p.m. local time at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Dhaka. That’s 3 a.m. Eastern Time in the United States, midnight Pacific.
The Bulls vs. Dynamites match is set for 6:30 p.m. local time, or 7:30 a.m. U.S. Eastern Time, 4:30 a.m. Pacific.
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Watch a live stream of the both matches right here in the video at the top of this page.
The Riders-Dynamites showdown also features a thrilling matchup of international superstars, this time with the ball.
Two of the top left-arm fast bowlers in the world go on the attack in that match, with Pakistan World Cup hero Wahab Riaz bringing the heat for Rangpur, and 20-year-old Mustafizur Rahman — who made history this week as the first-ever Bangladesh player named to the ICC ODI Team of the Year — will take wickets for host Dhaka.
The 2015 BPL has seen plenty of thrilling finishes and individual performances, but the latest edition of the Premier League has not been without controversy. After the Bangladesh Cricket Board pulled the plug on the 2014 season after a match-fixing scandal, this year has reportedly seen four illegal bookmakersejected from the two stadiums where matches have taken place in 2015.
Betting on cricket is illegal in Bangladesh, and league anti-corruption authorities suspected that the alleged bookies were taking bets during the matches.
At least one match, the November 30 tilt between Barisal and Chittagong in Dhaka, was criticized in local Bangladesh media outlets as “dubious” due to a series of conspicuously poor performances in the match. But BPL Secretary Ismail Haider Mallick said that the league had not investigated the match.
To watch the Comilla Victorians vs. Sylhet Super Stars and Barisal Bulls vs. Dhaka Dynamites Phase Three Bangladesh Premier League 2015 T20 cricket finale live online from Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Dhaka, go to ESPN3, the online-only channel in the ESPN network, which will carry the games live at this link . ESPN3 will carry all 10 Bangladesh Premier League Phase Three games in the 2015 season plus the entire four-match playoff tournament, and the streaming channel is free to subscribers of most major internet service providers and many minor ISPs, as well. For a full list, check this link .
[Featured Photo via Bangladesh Cricket Board]