Fortune Barishal captain Tamim Iqbal. Photo: Collected

DHAKA, Feb 6, 2025 (BSS)—Fortune Barishal captain Tamim Iqbal today urged his teammates to stay calm in the final of the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL), saying that holding the nerve is key to the success in winning the most important game of the tournament.

“The team which can stay calm has the chance to win the title. This was my experience after playing BPL final twice,” Tamim said here at the pre-final conference.

“I was under more pressure this time in the qualifying matches. So I know how important it is to hold the nerve. I am fortunate enough to play in the final twice before. Usually I don't think much about the final. I hope tomorrow we’ll come up with our best.”

Tamim’s Barishal will take on Chittagong in the final tomorrow (Friday) at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium. The match starts at 7 PM.

Tamim led Barishal to first BPL title in the last season. This year too, he led the team astutely to keep them on the verge of retaining the title. Barishal will be third team after Cumilla and Dhaka franchise to win the BPL title more than once if they can retain the trophy.

"We all say that the final is the most important match of the tournament. But in such a situation, you must be very calm. If you get nervous and if you can't control the pressure, you will make mistakes,” Tamim remarked.

“The key to success is to be calm, as I said earlier.  We have to create chances more than our opponents. And obviously we have to win the crunch moment if we want to retain the title.”

Living up the reputation of the balanced team, Barishal won nine out of 12 matches in the group phase to move to the playoffs as table topper. They also won the Qualifier-1 game against Chittagong Kings to move to the final straightway.

Chittagong, however, later needed to play the Qualifier-2 game, which they won to set up final against Barishal.

“The cricketers of our team are quite experienced. They have faced various pressures at different times. They may sometimes fail to overcome the pressure but most of the time they overcame the hurdle successfully,” Tamim said.

“Experience is a big thing. But there is a culture in our franchise that we try to keep every player relaxed. We don't do anything beyond the limits, whether we win or lose.”

Tamim said, all the cricketers of Barishal are guaranteed respect even if they can’t thrive in, which the reason of their successful run in the BPL for the past two years.

“I always tell our cricketers one thing--whatever happens in this tournament, whether we win or lose, one thing is guaranteed in our team and that is respect for the cricketers. It is guaranteed, nothing else,” he said.

“We may or may not be champions, we may not move to the playoffs, but one thing is guaranteed, that is respect. You will not be given too much love because of your performance, nor will you be treated badly because of your failure. I think this is the key to our success”