‘Not bad for a day’s work.’
Jimmy Neesham’s latest Instagram story read the line where he posted a picture of him holding the BPL trophy.
The Kiwi all-rounder was roped in by Fortune Barishal before the final and was expected to play in the title-decider.
But when Tamim Iqbal said that they were unchanged at the toss before the final, it certainly raised some eyebrows.
However, Tamim later said that he was clear about the decision and Neesham was informed before the match. They didn’t want to break the combination.
After defending the title successfully in a thrilling final at the Sher-e-Bangla National on Friday, Tamim mentioned that Neesham was there only for injury concerns to their regulars.
Tamim was not only captaining the side or taking the on-field decisions; the former national team captain was, in fact, the main strategist for Barishal.
And it did work out for them as they beat Chittagong Kings by three wickets to win the trophy in the last over.
Tamim, despite hailing from Chattogram, was happy for the people of Barishal, who came by large to support the team.
‘This is huge for Barishal. Barishal probably played only one final in the previous four to five years. There are many people from Barishal who live in Dhaka, especially in Mirpur. You’ve seen how much support we got throughout the tournament. This is fantastic to win the trophy for them,’ said Tamim.
Tamim also said that with the help of others, he managed to do his work successfully.
‘Mushfiqur [Rahim] should get a lot of credits,’ Tamim told the reporters. ‘Because how this franchise is working out—I oversee everything off the field, to bring in cricketers, whether they’re getting the payments in time and everything.
‘Of course there is someone fantastic like Sabbir bhai [former manager of cricket operations in BCB] as the CEO. And Mushfiq does the on-field work and does that very well.’
The defending champions were one of the strongest teams on paper this season. And they dominated the season as they faced little challenges from the opposition. Tamim, in fact, said that the previous title was more ‘close to his heart’ as they were on the verge of elimination unlike this season.
But Tamim also said that it was the franchise’s credit to build such a strong team.
‘I often hear that Barishal are a big-budget team,’ said Tamim. ‘But you’ve got to admire this franchise for taking six Category A players. Because others also had that opportunity. They didn’t take that. We did.
‘There were bigger franchises than us. But they didn’t take them. We signed them for two reasons. One was that we’ve had trust for them. Second was that we’d have to honour them.’
Now Tamim wants BCB to step up to take initiatives.
He said, ‘The BCB should honour this franchise and the owner of the franchise. Because this type of team and the owner will change the face of the BPL. If this type of person remains in cricket, not only in franchise cricket but also overall, then Bangladesh cricket will move forward.’
The Southpaw, who was given mementoes by the BCB after the final for his recent retirement from international cricket, also urged the BCB to take steps by which the fanbase doesn’t lose interest.
‘We’ve built a fanbase by working hard. This was the demand from the beginning—to build such a fanbase. If I give an example of IPL, the regulation never changes there. The core cricketers remain with a franchise,’ he said.
‘Now the contract cycle with the franchise has ended in BPL. There will be another cycle of five years. But the franchises should be given the opportunity to retain their core players. If you retain only one player, then the fanbase will be finished.’