Khulna Titans

Khulna Titans is one of the seven teams who compete in the Bangladesh Premier League, an yearly T20 cricket tournament administered by the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB). The Titans proudly bolster their black and orange jersey on the pitch.

The Titans were added to the tournament in the 2016/17 BPL season as a completely new franchise and as a replacement of the the Khulna Bengal Tigers, which were discontinued due to corruption charges.

Background

Khulna Titans is owned by Kazi Inam Ahmed, the Managing Director of the Gemcon Sports. BPL was introduced in the year 2012 with Khulna Bengal Tigers as one of the teams. Following the second season in 2013, the owners of teams were suspended after they failed to follow league regulations. Many players and staff were also suspended (and some banned) due to the charges of corruption and match fixing.

Due to this scandal, the league was not played the next year (2014). It restarted in the year 2015 with six new teams. Before the beginning of the 2016–17 edition of the league, one franchise was suspended following breaches of disciplinary regulations which paved the way for two new franchises one of which is the Khulna Titans.

It was coached by the Australian Stuart Law until the last season who has been overtaken by the ex-Sri Lankan captain Mahela Jayawardene. He is supported by Alfonso Thomas and Kazi Emdadul Bashar, who are the assistant coaches. Jayawardene's team is captained by Mahmudullah Riyad.

Players

The Titans entered the competition in the year 2016. They signed a good set of players which included their captain Mahmudullah, probably their most important signing till date. Junaid Khan and Mosharraf Hossain were another two players to have kept an eye on. Benny Howell had his share of fans too. The complete squad was comprised of 20 players.

The franchise did not hold back next season and brought in West Indian all-rounder Carlos Brathwaite as well as English all-rounder Dawid Malan. Current Pakistan skipper Sarfraz Ahmed was also added to the batting lineup. These along with a few others gave the squad a complete overhaul. Australian star Chris Lynn joined the team but could not play due to a shoulder injury.

Club Trajectory

The Titans have now completed in two seasons of the Bangladesh Premier League and are playing in the 3rd one at the moment. While they are yet to be top challengers for the title (or to win the title), they sure have given hard times to their opponents.

The franchise began their first season with a promising start after defeating Rajshashi Kings in their opening match. The joy of their fans continued through the season after they managed 4 wins the the 5 matches to follow. After a few ups and downs, they reached the qualifiers and after facing a defeat from their debut opponents they came out to be the second runner-ups.

The second season was more ‘unstable’ than the first. The team couldn’t find any major streak and gained losses with the wins. The performance wasn’t consistent. They still managed to reach the eliminator round and were kicked out by Rangpur Riders hence finishing 4th in the tournament.

Prominent Achievements

The Titans fought their well in their first season of the series. They managed to win 7 out of their 12 pool matches which were enough for them to find a place in the qualifiers. They eventually stood 3rd, ahead of 4 other teams in the competition.

The current team captain Mohammad Mahmudullah Riyad remains the most capped player of the tournament. He also has scored the highest individual runs in the tournament. Mahmudullah was also given the title of the player of the season in the 2016 edition of the tournament.