Russell adjudged MVP in a BPL dominated by locals
Rajshahi Royals skipper Andre Russell was adjudged man of the tournament following his side's triumph in the tournament.
After leading his side Rajshahi Royals to glory in the Bangabandhu Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) T20 2019-20, Andre Russell added another feather to his hat as the Caribbean hard-hitter was adjudged man of the tournament.
Russell had a BPL which was not full of glittering performances as the all-rounder notched up 225 runs and picked up 14 wickets. His momentous occasion in the whole BPL came when he scored a blistering 54 off 22 deliveries in the second qualifier to ensure a thrilling win for his team against Chattogram Challengers and took Rajshahi to the final.
He also contributed well in the final against Khulna Tigers as he scored a cameo of 27 runs from 16 deliveries and later on picked up two wickets including the crucial scalp of his counterpart Mushfiqur Rahim.
But Russell being adjudged the star of the tournament has seen criticisms throughout the social media as many believe there were players who performed better than the Caribbean all-rounder.
Rilee Rossouw, Mushfiqur Rahim, Liton Das and Shoaib Malik - all finished the tournament with more than 450 runs whereas Russell managed more than 200 less than each of them. In the bowling department, Russell was ninth but he was well behind Mustafizur Rahman, Rubel Hossain, Mohammad Amir and Robbie Frylinck who picked up 20 wickets each.
Considering all-round performances, Russell stays behind Soumya Sarkar who scored 331 runs and picked up 12 wickets despite his team not qualifying for the playoffs. Afif Hossain and Malik also picked up 7 and 5 wickets each with more runs than Russell.
The rebranded edition of BPL saw many Bangladeshi players fare well as seven batsmen were in the top 10 run-scorers whereas the bowling charts saw five Bangladeshi bowlers within the top 10.
