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Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp reacted angrily to a joke about his team's forthcoming match against Crystal Palace.

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Presenter jokes lunchtime is Klopp's "favourite kick-off"Liverpool boss not impressedHits back in angry rant WHAT HAPPENED?

Klopp spoke to Amazon Prime presenter Marcus Buckland after Liverpool's 2-0 win over Sheffield United on Wednesday in the Premier League. Buckland noted how Liverpool's next match was a lunchtime game against Crystal Palace on Saturday in Klopp's "favourite kick-off time." However, the joke did not go down at all well with the Liverpool manager who has regularly made it clear he is not a fan of playing early on Saturday after a Wednesday fixture.

AdvertisementWHAT KLOPP SAID

Klopp said: "That’s really brave to make a joke about that. We go home, I don’t know exactly what time we will get home, we will arrive, maybe 1am-2am tonight, and then play again. We have two sessions. It is fine to recover and then we go again. Crystal Palace play tonight as well so it is really fine. I realise you don’t understand it as well and you work in football so why should I explain it again. If you make a joke out of that you are ignorant.”

Buckland then insisted he was not trying to be disrespectful but Klopp brushed his comment off.

“You were already," he added. "All good, you can say what you want, I cannot say what I want because that would be really different.”

GettyTHE BIGGER PICTURE

Liverpool's win over Sheffield United means the Reds are once again two points behind leaders Arsenal in the Premier League table. Victory over Palace next time out would see Liverpool move to the top and pile pressure on the Gunners ahead of their trip to an in-form Aston Villa. Unai Emery's side are currently third after beating Manchester City 1-0 on Wednesday.

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GettyWHAT NEXT FOR LIVERPOOL?

The fixtures are certainly coming thick and fast for Liverpool, with some crucial games to be played before Christmas. Klopp's side face Palace, Manchester United and Arsenal in the Premier League, West Ham in the EFL quarter-finals and Union Saint-Gilloise in the Europa League.

Continuing its arguments over the Lodha Committee report, the BCCI said that because of its status as a trust it was beyond the purview of the Supreme Court. The court responded by asking the BCCI whether it was “refusing to be reformed”

Nagraj Gollapudi08-Apr-2016Continuing arguments over the Lodha Committee report on Friday, the BCCI said that because of its status as a trust it was beyond the purview of the Supreme Court. The court responded by asking the BCCI whether it was “refusing to be reformed” and adjourned the matter to MondayA three-man panel led by Justice RM Lodha had recommended several changes to the BCCI’s functioning, but the board has been reluctant to implement some of them. The BCCI’s senior counsel, KK Venugopal, told the bench, comprising Chief Justice TS Thakur and Justice Ibrahim Kalifulla, that the board was registered under the Tamil Nadu Societies Registration Act and also reportedly cited Article 19 (C) of the Constitution of India, which allows for the formation of associations or unions, as one of the reasons the court could not interfere in the BCCI’s functioning.”This is a private body and can arrange its matters in whatever way it wants,” Venugopal told the court, according to the .Regarding the suggestion of “one state, one vote” and the recent critique against how the BCCI disbursed its funds to the state associations, Venugopal said, “Memberships are part of internal management. In case of complaints, approach the Registrar, Co-operative Societies or the police station or the court. There has been no instance of malfeasance to trigger interference which will change the very character and functioning of the Board.”During his submission, Venugopal also cited the Zee Telefilms judgement of 2005. In response to a writ petition by Zee Telefilms against the BCCI over the cancellation of telecast rights, a five-judge bench of the Supreme Court had ruled that the Indian cricket board was not a “state” as defined by Article 12 of the Constitution, and no fundamental rights can be invoked against it. At the time, however, the court had also ruled that the BCCI was a private body carrying out a public function and, therefore, could be taken to court for violation of a statutory court. According to this judgement, Venugopal said on Friday, the Supreme court could only examine the BCCI’s public function, which does not include its character or composition.Chief Justice Thakur had a pointed question for Venugopal: “Every single penny you hold in trust is for the benefit of the game and for those who play and for the millions of cricket lovers who pay you to watch the game… Are you not accountable to them? Are you refusing to be reformed?”Chief Justice Thakur had more rhetorical questions for the BCCI counsel. “[From] what we understand is that you are suggesting that I am answerable to Registrar of Societies. I will be accountable only to Registrar of the Society. I will be amenable to criminal law but I will not reform. Don’t ask me to reform. Is it possible? What have you done? We have seen the allegations of match-fixing and betting. You have no control over these. But you give money in crores. The Lodha committee has said something. It has been said to make the functioning more transparent and visible and the effort is to reform the BCCI.”The bench asked Venugopal, “When you collect thousands of crores of rupees, are you saying that we cannot question you as to how you spend the same?” The BCCI counsel nodded. “With respect, yes.”Venugopal said that broadcasting revenue accrued from selling media rights was the main source of income for the BCCI. He then argued that the court cannot say how the BCCI must run its business, but it can definitely look into allegations of malfeasance and misconduct. The court asked the BCCI: “The money that you have is in your trust. Are you not accountable to the beneficiaries? It is for the benefit of the people who watch matches. Are you not accountable to them?””We are accountable to the statutory bodies, the regulatory bodies like the Registrar of Societies or the Criminal Law,” Venugopal said. He told the bench that the BCCI was carrying out reform in a stage-by-stage basis.

Manish Pandey scored his second century of the season and KL Rahul was out in the nineties for the second time in the season as Karnataka took a 193-run lead

The Report by Karthik Krishnaswamy in Hubli15-Dec-2013
Scorecard
Manish Pandey’s 161 put Karnataka in total control•ESPNcricinfo LtdManish Pandey scored his second century of the season and KL Rahul was out in the nineties for the second time in the season as Karnataka took a 193-run lead with three wickets in hand. By the time Pandey was bowled late in the day by a delivery that stayed low, his 161 had made a Punjab win nearly unthinkable.With two days remaining, Punjab will need a far better effort from their batsmen in the second innings – they were bowled out for 174 in the first – if they are to take any points from the game.For the second day running, the sun beat down through a cloudless sky, and the spectators surveyed a glowing outfield through crinkled eyes. A pitch that had helped the quicker bowlers on the first day was easing into one full of runs.The contrast between the two innings, though, had more to do with the batting approaches of the two sides than with the conditions. None of the Punjab batsmen, for instance, had shown the sort of patience Rahul did late on day one, in going to stumps on 22 from 74 balls. He had left well outside off stump, and played the drive only when the ball was pitched right up, with an elegantly abbreviated follow-through.He played two such drives in the third over of the day, one through cover and one down the ground, off Sandeep Sharma, and the two boundaries seemed to loosen his concentration momentarily, as he hung his bat outside off at the last ball of the over. The edge, however, dropped short of second slip. In the previous over, Gony had appealed unsuccessfully for lbw after getting one to keep low at Pandey.Those were the only two moments when Punjab came close in the morning session, which ended with Karnataka 166 for 2. After Gony’s first spell of five overs, none of the bowlers looked threatening. Rahul took a liking to Taruwar Kohli’s medium-pace, and drove him straight to bring up Karnataka’s 100 and between point and cover to bring up his third half-century of the season.Pandey, who began the day quietly, burst into life by launching Sandeep over the long-off boundary, and repeatedly pulled him off the front foot, with his bat typically pointing skywards. He was watchful against spin, scoring just seven off 35 balls before lunch from debutant left-arm spinner Vinay Choudhary. He didn’t try to change gears even when he was stuck on 49 for 10 balls.This restraint didn’t last too long, though. Pandey threw his hands out at the first ball he faced after lunch, from part-time offspinner Gurkeerat Singh, and edged thickly, but Mandeep Singh failed to cling on at slip. Pandey was on 59.In Gurkeerat’s next over, Rahul missed a sweep, and the ball struck wicketkeeper Gitansh Khera’s shoulder and bounced onto the stumps. The third umpire took his time poring over replays before ruling that Rahul’s foot had slid out of the crease. By this time, his 159-run partnership with Pandey had taken Karnataka past Punjab’s 174.CM Gautam was lbw to VRV Singh soon after, but Pandey continued to swell Karnataka’s lead while dominating partnerships of 52 and 68 with Stuart Binny and debutant Karun Nair. He moved into the nineties with a straight six off Choudhary and whipped the next ball wide of mid-on to go to 97. The next ball he faced, from Gurkeerat, cleared the sightscreen at the press box end. His second 50 had taken him just 70 balls. That run-spurt had come at just the right time, to knock the life out of Punjab’s bowlers just after they had struck two quick blows.

Sri Lanka opener Dimuth Karunaratne said his side would target a lead in excess of 150 when they resume their second innings 87 runs ahead and with three wickets in hand, in Sydney on the fourth day

Andrew Fernando at the SCG05-Jan-2013Sri Lanka opener Dimuth Karunaratne said his side would target a lead in excess of 150 when they resume their second innings 87 runs ahead and with three wickets in hand, in Sydney on the fourth day. Sri Lanka had moved to within eight runs of wiping Australia’s first-innings lead when they lost their second wicket, but five more batsmen fell in the third session to leave the visitors poorly placed.Though the SCG pitch remained well-suited to batting, Karunaratne hoped Sri Lanka’s spinners could defend a modest total, as the match approached a result. Dinesh Chandimal remained unbeaten on 22 at stumps on day three, with Rangana Herath for company.”We did hard work in the first and second session, but we lost the last session which was very disappointing,” Karunaratne said. “Chandimal is at the wicket, so he can do something tomorrow. If he puts some runs on the board, like 150-175, there is a chance to do something on this track.”The wicket is turning a lot now and Australia are batting in the fourth innings. There’s something on the wicket. I think Rangana Herath and Tillakaratne Dilshan can do something for us.”Karunaratne also defended Thilan Samaraweera’s shot selection, after Samaraweera had advanced down the pitch and aimed a slog over midwicket off Nathan Lyon, off the third ball he faced. The swipe produced a top edge that was taken at mid-off, leaving Sri Lanka four wickets down, being only 20 runs ahead.”The things he is used to doing haven’t been successful for him in the last two or three innings. He tried to do something different. He tried to attack and get some runs, spread the field and then he could play his normal game. There are different plans for different players. He had a different gameplan and he tried it, but he was unlucky. I think in the next series he will come to the fore again.”We haven’t had much luck, and it’s been a disappointing series for all of us. We didn’t bat well in the whole series, except when Tillakaratne Dilshan got a hundred in the first Test and Lahiru Thirimanne batted well in the first innings here.”Sri Lanka had played Nathan Lyon aggressively throughout the Test, and Karunaratne said that that had been their plan, as most Sri Lanka batsmen felt more comfortable against spin bowling. Lyon picked up Samaraweera’s wicket, but was expensive at 4.84 runs an over, and was hit for three aerial fours in an over by Angelo Mathews despite the visitors’ dire match situation.”The Aussie fast bowlers are doing really well in the three sessions, and they do the basics right with line and length and set the field well. If we have a chance to get some runs, it’s against the offspinner through mid-on and midwicket when those fielders are in the circle. Mathews is a good player to hit some big shots. Thilan also tried to do the same thing.”

ESPNcricinfo’s preview of the third ODI between West Indies and Australia in St Vincent

The Preview by Brydon Coverdale20-Mar-2012Match factsSunil Narine has been a tricky customer for Australia to handle in the first two games•Associated PressMarch 20, Arnos Vale
Start time 0930 (1330 GMT)Big PictureIf there were any doubts about how much Sunday’s win meant to West Indies, who had not beaten Australia in an ODI since 2006, consider the reaction of the prime minister of St Vincent and the Grenadines. Ralph Gonsalves, who has been in the crowd during the first two games, declared Tuesday a public holiday and as a result, the third match had already sold out by Monday. If West Indies can parlay that support into another victory, they will have a 2-1 series lead ahead of the final two games in St Lucia, and will have a terrific chance to beat Australia in a one-day series for the first time since 1995.To avoid that scenario, Australia need more from their batsmen, especially given they have weakened their batting depth by leaving Peter Forrest out to accommodate the offspinner Nathan Lyon. In the first two matches they had nine scores above 20 but no batsman has managed a half-century. That is not easy on a slow pitch, but they must find a way, especially if they have their full allotment of overs to bat. They scored at less than four an over in the second match and only marginally above that in the first game, and finding a way to handle the spin of Sunil Narine will be one of their major challenges.West Indies have also been bereft of half-century makers in this series but Kieron Pollard was well on the way to one when the winning runs arrived on Sunday. Their batsmen played poorly in the first match and the task is to make sure Sunday’s efforts are repeated in this game, not the batting from the opening encounter.Form guide(Most recent first)
West Indies WLLLW
Australia LWWLWIn the spotlightSunil Narine’s 4 for 27 on Sunday was the second-best analysis ever recorded by a West Indies spinner in an ODI against Australia. Only Chris Gayle has bettered those figures, when he took 5 for 46 in Antigua in 2003. Narine’s changes of pace and flight, and the variety of spin in his armoury make him a difficult proposition in one-day cricket. Further success in this series will also boost his chances of a call-up for the Test matches that follow.Clint McKay doesn’t draw the headlines like some of his team-mates but he has made himself an important part of Australia’s one-day side, filling a Nathan Bracken-style role. His changes of pace are challenging in the 50-over format and his variety and accuracy makes him well suited to the slower Arnos Vale pitch. Almost inconspicuously, McKay has put himself in a position to reach 50 ODI wickets quicker than most Australians. He has 47, and is about to play his 26th ODI. Dennis Lillee reached the mark in 24 matches and Shane Warne in 25, and should McKay get there this game he will be equal third-fastest with Len Pascoe, who took 26 games.Team newsWest Indies will be reluctant to alter a winning side, with changes more likely ahead of the fourth and fifth matches when the teams move on to a new venue.West Indies (possible) 1 Kieran Powell, 2 Johnson Charles, 3 Marlon Samuels, 4 Darren Bravo, 5 Dwayne Bravo, 6 Kieron Pollard, 7 Andre Russell, 8 Carlton Baugh (wk), 9 Darren Sammy (capt), 10 Sunil Narine, 11 Kemar Roach.Australia have announced their side and there will be one change, the inclusion of the offspinner Lyon at the expense of the batsman Forrest. Lyon should enjoy working on the slow Arnos Vale pitch, where Sunil Narine was so difficult for the Australians to handle in the second match.Australia 1 David Warner, 2 Shane Watson (capt), 3 Matthew Wade (wk), 4 Michael Hussey, 5 David Hussey, 6 George Bailey, 7 Daniel Christian, 8 Brett Lee, 9 Clint McKay, 10 Xavier Doherty, 11 Nathan Lyon.Pitch and conditionsThe slow Arnos Value surface has proved difficult for batsmen over the past two matches and the same is expected in this third game. Thunderstorms have been forecast, so the sides might face another abridged contest.Stats and trivia Sunday’s victory was the first time West Indies had beaten Australia in an ODI in 14 matches, stretching back to the 2006 Champions Trophy Excluding matches where they have been bowled out, Australia’s run-rate of 3.85 on Sunday was their lowest in an ODI in four yearsQuotes”We have shown that we can win and now the aim is to repeat the performance.”
“The conditions make it a little bit more difficult [for batsmen]. You’re definitely never in.”

England batsman Kevin Pietersen has transferred to Delhi Daredevils from Deccan Chargers for the 2012 season of the IPL, the IPL has confirmed

ESPNcricinfo staff08-Jan-2012England batsman Kevin Pietersen has transferred to Delhi Daredevils from Deccan Chargers for the 2012 season of the IPL, the IPL has confirmed. Pietersen is the third player to switch teams during the transfer window, after Dinesh Karthik and R Sathish.”We are pleased to add Kevin to our line-up. He brings rich experience and an explosive quality to our batting and can be a more than handy offspinner as well,” said TA Sekhar, GMR Sports’ Head (Cricket). “We are sure that Kevin will help us to be very competitive this season and the Delhi Daredevils fans will enjoy this addition.”Pietersen was earlier part of Royal Challengers Bangalore and had captained the team for a few games in 2009. He was acquired by Deccan Chargers during the 2011 player auctions but could not play as he was recovering from a double hernia.Pietersen, currently in the UAE for England’s away series against Pakistan, said he was looking forward to the challenge of being part of a new setup. “I am looking forward to a wonderful time with the Delhi Daredevils,” Pietersen said. “It will be a great experience to be playing in the same squad as Sehwag.”The first window for trading between IPL franchises closes on January 20. There will be another short window for trading after the February 4 auction in which the players of now terminated franchise Kochi Tuskers Kerala will be sold. The tournament will run from April 4 to May 27, 2012.

Rory Hamilton-Brown’s departure from Surrey has been confirmed after the county announced he has been released from the remainder of his contract

ESPNcricinfo staff22-Sep-2012Rory Hamilton-Brown’s departure from Surrey has been confirmed after the county announced he has been released from the remainder of his contract although which team he now joins remains undecided.Somerset are the favourites to get his signature as Hamilton-Brown looks to revive his career after a traumatic season following the death of his close friend Tom Maynard after which he was granted indefinite compassionate leave from the club. He briefly returned to the side and his final appearance for Surrey was the Maynard tribute match against Glamorgan on August 21.Earlier this month Surrey confirmed they had given Hamilton-Brown permission to talk to other counties so he could assess his future and his three-years with the club have now come to an end.Chris Adams, the team director, said: “Rory is a talented young cricketer. Achieving promotion and winning the CB40 trophy were both significant achievements and his weight of runs made a big contribution. Whilst at the club, he has also moved a lot a closer to fulfilling his ambitions of playing on the International stage.”The club has agreed to his request to leave so he can look to make a fresh start elsewhere. On a personal level I would like to wish Rory the best for the future and hope he is able to realise his potential at the highest level.”

Travis Head’s ninth first-class fifty lifted South Australia to 4 for 191, after their bowlers had restricted Tasmania to 291 in the morning

ESPNcricinfo staff23-Nov-2013
ScorecardFile photo: Travis Head struck 16 fours during his 98•Getty ImagesTravis Head’s ninth first-class fifty lifted South Australia to 4 for 191, after their bowlers had restricted Tasmania to 291 in the morning.Head added 75 runs for the third wicket with Tom Cooper, who made 26, as they helped the team recover from a shaky start which saw both their openers dismissed inside 22 overs.Phillip Hughes, who had blasted 204 in the previous game against Western Australia, failed to get going this time, and was caught by Luke Butterworth off Clive Rose in the 12th over. Hughes’ opening partner Michael Klinger, who too had notched a century in Adelaide, lasted slightly longer, hitting two fours as he made his way to 21, but he was trapped lbw by Xavier Doherty, leaving South Australia at 2 for 61.But Head and Cooper counterattacked by smashing a total of 20 fours – 16 of those struck by Head – as the pair batted out 23.3 overs, but Butterworth eventually made the breakthrough and removed Cooper in the 45th over. Head carried on, and looked set to score his maiden first-class ton, but fell two runs short as he was caught behind by Tim Paine, to give Butterworth his second scalp of the day.Callum Ferguson and Johan Botha batted out the remaining 7.5 overs of the day to leave South Australia trailing by 100 runs heading into day three.Tasmania, who were 6 for 226 when the day began, were earlier helped by handy contributions from tailenders Doherty and Rose, who took the team to a respectable total.

James Sutherland, the Cricket Australia chief executive, has spoken for the first time about the “homework” fiasco that enveloped the national team on a horrid tour of India, stating his displeasure at how the squad’s discipline broke down

Daniel Brettig15-May-2013James Sutherland, the Cricket Australia chief executive, has spoken for the first time about the “homework” fiasco that enveloped the national team on a horrid tour of India, stating his displeasure at how the squad’s discipline broke down to the point that four players including then vice-captain Shane Watson were suspended from a Test match.At the time of the suspensions, which also ruled James Pattinson, Usman Khawaja and Mitchell Johnson out of contention for the third Test of the series in Mohali in March, Sutherland was overseas and conspicuous by his absence from CA’s public response to the episode, leaving the team performance manager Pat Howard to field questions. However Sutherland told ESPNcricinfo that he had since gained a deep understanding of the issues at play, and stressed to team management that such a scenario could not be allowed to unfold again.”My starting point with all of that is personally I’m disappointed we got to that stage,” Sutherland said. “I now have a pretty in-depth understanding of where and how it got to there and I’m still disappointed that it happened in the circumstances when it got to there and how it got to there.”I’m supportive of the decisions that were made at the time and I’m a really firm believer in the fact that those decisions will ultimately stand us in good stead as we build to sustained performance at the highest level. I think it’s pretty well understood internally what I think about it, and the need for us to ensure those things are dealt with better before they ever get to that stage.”While Sutherland was hesitant to attribute the suspensions and their prelude to any one major factor, he conceded that communication within the team had broken down, leaving players unaware of how badly the team’s captain Michael Clarke, coach Mickey Arthur and team manager Gavin Dovey felt that standards had slipped. It was an area the absence of the retired Ricky Ponting and Michael Hussey was keenly felt.”It would be dangerous to narrow it down to one or two things,” Sutherland said. “It was a culmination of a whole lot of things, and to pinpoint it as being communication of people not necessarily understanding where they were … yes that is one of the reasons no doubt. But there’s a whole lot of others as well I think.”Issues of leadership and character within Australian cricket had been on Sutherland’s mind well before the events of India, and he would like to see greater emphasis placed on the education of young players so that their responsibilities to teammates and the game as a whole are better understood, alongside their burgeoning skills as batsmen and bowlers.”Clearly we want to be building or developing the best players and part of that is developing players who are not only capable in a cricketing sense,” Sutherland said. “They are strong of character, they’re highly resilient, they’re able to adapt, and they have all of these character traits. To some extent you’re born with those and to some extent they’re circumstantial according to your environment and also they can be developed.”That’s part of our challenge as a sport in developing our best talent is to do that even better in this day and age, understanding the variability of cricket today, the need to adapt and the need to be resilient, to get through tough conditions in a foreign country you might never have visited before. All of those things are part of character.”That comes back to our point about sending more younger players away for longer periods to learn what it’s like to try to fight through a six-week tour when you can’t make a run and fight your way through it. Phil Hughes in India, it wasn’t great to see him early on in the tour, but the way he fought through that tour of India I thought was fantastic, just the sort of stuff we want to see from our players when they’re down.”Sutherland said plans were in the works to extend CA’s remit to educate players at an earlier age, the better to prepare them for a game that is now split across three formats and a wide variety of attitudes and career paths, from the Baggy Green ideal now co-opted by the Commonwealth Bank as the new major sponsor of the Test team, to the individualism and money upfront mentality of the IPL, BBL and other Twenty20 leagues.”One of the things we will want to do over the next couple of years is identify and work with that talent at an even younger age than we have in the past,” Sutherland said. “We’ve tended to let the cream rise to the top in recent times, but perhaps we need to nurture those high potential players a little bit earlier, and develop their other character beyond their cricket abilities and prepare them for what’s next.”It’s not a lesson out of India, it’s something we’ve been talking about for quite some time, certainly I’ve been speaking to Pat Howard about it ever since he started [in 2011]. We’ve been talking about nurturing our young, talented teenagers a little bit earlier than we have in the past. Some other sports do that very well and I’d like to see cricket doing a lot more of that in the next little while.”

Dhaka Gladiators will play with a Chris Gayle-sized hole in their line-up for the final when they take on Chittagong Kings in Mirpur

The Preview by Mohammad Isam18-Feb-2013 Match FactsFebruary 19, 2013
Start time 1800 (1200 GMT)The lack of runs from Ravi Bopara is a problem that needs to be solved by Chittagong Kings on the big day•Chittagong KingsBig PictureDhaka Gladiators will play with a Chris Gayle-sized hole in their line-up for the final. But credit to the make-up of their team. They take on Chittagong Kings, against whom they first lost a match before winning one. It is shaping up to be a close contest as the Kings have picked up momentum at the right time, but the Gladiators are a side heavy on Twenty20 specialists.The Gladiators have had a solid campaign so far, much of it due to their squad that was the best on paper before the tournament started and remains so, through the 13 matches. Mohammad Ashraful, Shakib Al Hasan, Anamul Haque and Darren Stevens have led with the bat while Alfonso Thomas’ Twenty20 experience has been vital with the ball, picking up 17 wickets. Shakib and fellow left-arm spinner Mosharraf Hossain have taken the bulk of the wickets together and their combined eight overs will again be important.Kings’ strength is in their bowling, especially left-arm spin. Enamul Haque jnr has taken 18 wickets and his four overs will most likely be played out quietly by the rampant Gladiators. The batting will be propped up by Ryan ten Doeschate who has played several vital knocks, but the lack of runs from Ravi Bopara is a problem that needs to be solved on the big day. Form guide(Most recent first, completed matches)
Dhaka Gladiators WWLWW
Chittagong Kings WWLWL In the spotlight After Gayle’s departure, Shakib Al Hasan will again be the most important player in the Gladiators’ line-up. Shakib has had a quiet tournament so far, though there have been the odd contributions. He will bat at No. 3 and the four overs of left-arm spin will hold the key for the defending champions in the final.Enamul Haque jnr has been the vital performer for Chittagong Kings even on bad days. Apart from the wickets, he offers control in a bowling attack that is slowly shaping up at the right time of the tournament. Team newsSince Luke Wright is in New Zealand and Chris Gayle returned after one match, Ashraful is likely to open and Josh Cobb could make it to the playing eleven of the Gladiators.Dhaka Gladiators (probable): 1 Tillekaratne Dilshan, 2 Mohammad Ashraful, 3 Shakib Al Hasan, 4 Anamul Haque (wk), 5 Darren Stevens, 6 Kieron Pollard, 7 Josh Cobb, 8 Mashrafe Bin Mortaza (capt), 9 Alfonso Thomas, 10 Mosharraf Hossain, 11 Saqlain SajibThe same line-up is likely for the Kings as they have won two games on the trot with this eleven.Chittagong Kings (probable): 1 Naeem Islam, 2 Jason Roy, 3 Ravi Bopara, 4 Nurul Hasan (wk), 5 Ryan ten Doeschate, 6 Mahmudullah, 7 Kevon Cooper, 8 Jacob Oram, 9 Ariful Haque, 10 Taskin Ahmed, 11 Enamul Haque jnr Stats and triviaThe war of the wicket-takers will be a sideshow in the final. Thomas has 19 wickets while Enamul is on 18 wickets. Quotes”We have to play our best cricket because there’s no second chance. I am confident of the team, because we have done very well throughout the competition.”
“There are no favourites in a Twenty20 match, but Dhaka Gladiators are a good side.”