Chittagong Vikings

Chittagong Vikings

চিটাগাং ভাইকিংস
File:CVLogo.png
Nickname(s):	The Vikings
Captain:	Tamim Iqbal
Coach:	Marvan Atapattu
City:	Chittagong, Bangladesh
Colors:
Owner:	DBL Group
Founded:	2015
Home ground:	Zohur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium (Capacity: 22,000)
Secondary home ground(s)	MA Aziz Stadium (Capacity: 30,000)
Manager:	Akram Khan
BPL wins:	0
Official website:	Vikings' Official Website

The Chittagong Vikings are a professional Bangladeshi Twenty20 cricket team located in the Chittagong metropolitan area and one of six existing members of Bangladesh Premier League, a professional cricket league in Bangladesh. The team is headquartered in Chittagong, Chittagong Division and one of two teams to play from the division, alongside Chittagong Division. The team plays its home matches at MA Aziz Stadium and Zohur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chittagong.

The Vikings were established in 2012, as Chittagong Kings. The team was owned by Samir Qader Chowdhury for first two seasons of the tournament. After the suspension of ownership due to dispute with the cricket board, the ownership was transferred over to DBL Group. The conglomerate entered a five years ownership agreement for $26 million, making the franchise 2nd biggest buy in franchise auction.

The Vikings made their first appearance during the first season of the BPL, in2012. The team played its first game against Duronto Rajshahi, and convincingly won by a big margin. After the rearrangement of the squad and change of ownership, the team was re-branded to the Vikings with a completely new management and squad. The Vikings are currently coached by Marvan Atapattu and captained by Tamim Iqbal.

History

In 2012, The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) created the cricket tournament Bangladesh Premier League based on the Twenty20 form of the game. For the inaugural tournament held in February of the same year, a list of 6 teams who will be participating in the tournament was finalized. The teams representing 2 different divisions of Bangladesh, including Chittagong, were put up on auction in Radisson Hotels on 19 January. Chittagong Kings was bought by SQ Sports for a price of USD 1.2 million which was the most expensive buy of the six franchises.

2012: Bangladesh Premier League First Season

For the inaugural year icon player was Tamim Iqbal but was captained by allrounder Mahmudullah. For season one, team was managed by the Australian legend Michael Bevan and the head coach was the former Bangladesh captain Khaled Mahmud and Dean Jones was the technical director.

The Kings started off the tournament with a bang after Chris Gayle century. They posted a total of 206 with captain Mahmudullah scoring a brisk fifty. They proved their bowling was in good nick by bowling out Duronto Rajshahi within twenty overs. They won their next game with Nasir Jamshed making 86 not out in quick time. However they lost their groove against the Dhaka Gladiators with Pollard blowing the Kings away from a game which was the Kings. But they were on their winning ways winning the next two games on the trot by good bowling efforts.

But for the next games batting failures lead to loses on home turf chasing modest totals. The Kings held their nerve to win against Dhaka Gladiators with superb bowling. However the then lost against the bottom Sylhet Royals with Sohail Tanvir doing the damage. But the penultimate game against Barisal Burners was lost as the bowling was very poor against Brad Hodge. This lose cost Chittagong a place in the semi finals.

Semi final controversy

The first semi-final of the BPL will have the team that finished first in the league playing the team that finished fourth. Duronto Rajshahi finished first, with 14 points, but until 2.00 am on the morning of the semi-final, it wasn't clear who finished fourth. Initially, it was announced that Barisal Burners were through to the semis, after their victory against Chittagong Kings, on the basis of net run-rate. At that point, the other two spots were going to be contested between Chittagong Kings, Khulna Royal Bengals and Dhaka Gladiators. The next day, after Dhaka lost narrowly to Rajshahi and Khulna beat Sylhet Royals, Khulna went to second place with 12 points, leaving Dhaka, Barisal and Chittagong tied on 10 points at the end of the league phase. In the head-to-head results between the teams level on 10 points, Dhaka had beaten Barisal twice and Chittagong once and had a superior net-run rate and qualified for the semi-finals in third place. That now left Chittagong and Barisal in contention for the fourth spot. It was initially announced that Chittagong were in the semi-finals, presumably on the basis of a better head-to-head record in the three-way tie on 10 points, which included Dhaka. At 2.45 am of the game, however, the BPL issued a release which said that Barisal was the fourth semi-finalist, presumably because their head-to-head record with Chittagong. The decision was taken according to the rules and regulations of BPL which was announced before the tournament launch. According to the rules and regulations, if more than two teams tie at same points during group stage, the first preference is the number of wins of the teams during group stage. Dhaka, Chittagong and Barishal had 5 wins each. The second preference was the net run-rate of the teams and according to that Dhaka Gladiators was placed third, Barisal Burners was placed fourth and Chittagong Kings were eliminated by being placed fifth.

Controversies

Chittagong Kings, one of the famous teams of the Bangladesh Premier League, Wednesday filed a writ petition with the High Court seeking stay order on final match of the league. Chief Executive of Chittagong Kings Samir Qader Chowdhury filed the writ. The hearing on the writ petition will be held in an HC bench comprising Justice Mirza Hossain Haider and Mohammad Khorshed Alam in the afternoon. Barrister Rokonuddin Mahmud will move for the petitioner in the hearing of the writ. Earlier in the day, the Chittagong Kings filed a case against authorities of Bangladesh Premier League asking the court’s direction to declare the semifinal match between Barisal Burners and Duronto Rajshahi. Chief executive of Chittagong Kings Samiul Qader filed the case with first Assistant Judge Court of Dhaka. Four persons were made respondents in the case, including BPL secretary Siraj Uddin Alamgir. But the court rejected the embargo plea on the final match. Judge M Shawkat Ali fixed 15 March for the hearing on the case.

2013: Bangladesh Premier League Second Season

This season due to new auction, the team is totally changed from the last season, although Mahmudullah, Kevon Cooper, Brendan Taylor is in the team again, with some other familiar face, the ensemble casts around him includes Dutch allrounder Ryan ten Doeschate, Kiwi legend allrounder Jacob Oram, British middle order batsmen Ravi Bopara, Pakistani Pace spearhead Wahab Riaz. The team also secured the services of old player Dwayne Bravo along with Pakistani dashing Opener Imran Nazir. Later, they bought Australian speed demon Shaun Tait who was unsold at the auction. Before the start of the tournament, Pakistan Cricket Board refused to issue No Objection Certificates (NOCs). None of the 26 Pakistan players auctioned in second season's 2013 Bangladesh Premier League took part in the Twenty20 competition. They also bought David Miller, Shehan Jayasuriya, Dilhara Lokuhettige as a replacement player.

Lara as ambassador

Brian Lara was the team ambassador for first two seasons.

Brian Lara has been unveiled as the brand ambassador of Chittagong Kings for the second season of the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) and the former West Indies batsman believes the franchise system will widen the net to find talented cricketers across the world. He will accompany the Kings' ownership in commercial and promotional activities, but is not likely to have a coaching role. But he will be sought out by the young players in the squad for batting tips, especially the local ones who are extremely eager to have a player who scored 11,953 Test runs and 10,405 in ODIs at such close proximity.

"I love the invention of the franchise teams," Lara said. "I think it takes away a lot of control that the individual boards have. It brings about a lot of income for the players and also for the owners, and you see a lot more people coming to watch the T20 game. That in itself has a lot of benefit and goes down to the grassroots level.

"In the West Indies we found it very difficult to get teenage cricketers playing. We are now launching our own T20 franchise cricket and hopefully that will see a lot more youngsters get the opportunity to advance."

Lara has supported the similar concept in Zimbabwe, where he played a few games two years ago. He cited the example of Viv Richards, who was in Australia's Big Bash League, as a means for legends to spread the word. "As a former cricketer you want to give something back," he said. "I was in Zimbabwe a few years back and supported them in their game at the Test level and at the one-day level, I actually even played in their T20 competition.

"But it's just a matter of wanting to get back. You saw Viv Richards in Australia recently. There have been a couple of other players in the world. I am quite happy to do something like this. The younger players who are not up to their highest standards, I think I get a lot more benefit or satisfaction to helping a team that needs someone like myself."

The game will be popular, he believed, but not at the cost of other formats. "I believe now with T20 cricket, a lot more people are watching the game. Just remember, we are all entertainers," he said. "If this kind of cricket brings interest to the people, cricketers will be happy to indulge in it. Test cricket is still important, so are ODIs, but T20 should be there too because of the crowd factor."

During the inaugural season of the BPL, former Australia players Michael Bevan and Dean Jones were part of the Chittagong Kings, as batting coach and technical director respectively.

Packed stadiums at Chittagong

The arrival of the second edition of BPL in Bangladesh's second-largest city completely changed the complexion of the Twenty20 tournament. The first match at the venue, between the home side (Chittagong Kings) and Sylhet Royals, was played in front of a packed house and nearly all matches over the next five days saw full houses. The chief reason is the central location of the MA Aziz Stadium, which is seeing some cricketing action after hosting football for most of the last eight years. International cricket is played at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in the western corner of Chittagong. Though certain roads leading up to the venue were cordoned off, the spectators lined up two hours before the game. There were also rumours of slashed ticket prices, which attracted a sizeable amount of students from nearby educational institutions. On the final day, when the Kings took on Dhaka Gladiators, there was barely any room to stand in the general galleries.

Livery

Vikings were seafaring warriors who traveled to many parts of the world and conquered them. The Vikings were always on the move and never settled. They were known for being tenacious warriors and the battles they fought were legendary. The Chittagong Vikings are fierce warriors as well who play every game with dedication and the team spirit. They never give up and they are hungry for wins, just as their namesake.

2015: Bangladesh Premier League Third Season

Draft Pick

Tamim Iqbal made his way into Chittagong Kings as the icon player of the team. During the auction held in 22 October 2015, Anamul Haque, Taskin Ahmed, and Robin Peterson were picked for 60 lakhs (US$75,000). The final squad consisted 19 players including Mohammad Amir being the biggest surprise in the squad, as he made his international comeback after 5 years. The team appointed Tamim Iqbal was the captain of the team and Tillakaratne Dilshan as the vice-captain of the team.

Regular Season

The Chittagong Vikings started the season against Rangpur Riders, during the first match of the tournament. In a high scoring game, The Vikings played an innings of 187/7, with Tamim Iqbal being the highest scorer with 51 runs. However, Rangpur Riders pulled a surprising win by 2 wickets with a boundary off the last ball. The team earned its first win against Sylhet Super Stars, winning the match by 1 run. Despite having a story playing squad, the team finished the season with placement at the bottom of the point table, winning only 2 of 10 games. Tamim Iqbal and Tillakaratne Dilshan were among the top scorer in the tournament, and Mohammad Amir's performance was praised by the media and experts.

Season-by-season record

Year	Matches	Wins	Losses	No Result	Run Rate	Summary
2012	10	4	6	0	+0.078	Fifth (of six)
2013	12	6	6	0	+1.410	Runner-up
2014	Tournament not held
2015	10	2	8	0	-0.844	Sixth (of six)
2016	14	-	-	-	-	-

Administration and support staff

Team Management
Owner(s)	Abdul Wahed, Abdul Rahim (DBL Group)
Coach	Marvan Atapattu
Captain	Tamim Iqbal
Vice-captain	Tillakaratne Dilshan
Director	Abdul Jabbar, Abdul Quader
Manager	Akram Khan
Adviser	Vacant
Analyst	Vacant
Brand Ambassador	Ayub Bachchu, Kumar Bishwajit, Partha Barua, Nasim Khan, Ibrar Tipu

Current squad

Name	Nat	Batting Style	Bowling Style	Notes
Batsmen
Tamim Iqbal (c)		Left-hand bat	Right arm off break	Icon Player, International Cap
Tillakaratne Dilshan (vk)		Right-hand bat	Right-arm off break	International Cap
Nafees Iqbal		Right-hand bat	Right-arm medium	International Cap
Anamul Haque		Right-hand bat	Wicketkeeper	Wicketkeeper & International Cap
Umar Akmal		Right-hand bat	Right-arm off break	International Cap
Kamran Akmal		Right-hand bat	Right-arm off break	International Cap
Naeem Islam		Right-hand bat	Right-arm off break	International Cap
Yasir Ali		Right-hand bat	Right arm off break
Swapnil Patil		Right-hand bat		International Cap
All-Rounders
Jeevan Mendis		Left-hand bat	Right-arm leg break	International Cap
Chamara Kapugedera		Right-hand bat	Right-arm medium	International Cap
Bilawal Bhatti		Right-hand	Right-arm Fast	International Cap
Asif Ahmed		Right-hand bat	Right-arm offbreak
Ziaur Rahman		Right-hand bat	Right-arm medium-fast	International Cap
Elton Chigumbura		Right-hand bat	Right-arm medium-fast	International Cap
Bowlers
Robin Peterson		Left-hand bat	Slow left arm orthodox	International Cap
Shafiul Islam		Right-hand bat	Right-arm medium-fast	International Cap
Enamul Haque Jr		Right-hand bat	Slow left arm orthodox	International Cap
Saeed Ajmal		Right-hand bat	Right-arm off break	International Cap
Elias Sunny		Left-hand bat	Slow left arm orthodox	International Cap
Mohammad Amir		Left-hand bat	Left-arm fast	International Cap
Taskin Ahmed		Left-hand bat	Right-arm fast	International Cap
Robiul Islam		Right-hand bat	Right-arm fast-medium	International Cap

Sponsorship

Kit	Period	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor	Sleeve sponsor	Head Gear sponsor
	2012-14	Ecstasy	SQ Sports	Regent Airways	Ispahani
	2015-	DBL Apparels	Citibank Bangladesh	Steeltech	Uttara Motors Limited

Sponsor(s)
Media Partner	Channel I	Radio Partner	Radio Foorti 88.0 FM
Gold Sponsor	Citigroup	Silver Sponsor	Steeltech, Heidelberg Cement
Associate Sponsor	National Polymer, Pioneer Insurance	Airline Partner	Regent Airways