Durdanto Dhaka will take on Comilla Victorians in the first match of Bangladesh Premier League 2023 at Shere Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur, Dhaka, on January 19, Friday.

Durdanto Dhaka will be led by Mosaddek Hossain. After being eliminated in the league stage last year, Dhaka rebranded their name from Dhaka Dominators to Durdanto Dhaka. They have impressive overseas strength in Saim Ayub, Sadeera Samarawickrama, Usman Qadir, and Danushka Gunathilaka.

Comilla Victorians ended the previous season with a title win after bagging a seven-wicket win over Sylhet Strikers in the grand finale. They bagged nine wins and suffered three defeats, carrying 18 points at the second rank. 

After Imrul Kayes led the side in the previous edition, Liton Das is all set to take over the captaincy duties this season. They have a pretty strong all-round line-up this time with Moeen Ali, Iftikhar Ahmed, Rashid Khan, Naseem Shah, Sunil Narine, Andre Russell, and Mohammad Rizwan being part of the squad.

Mohammad Rizwan, Iftikhar Ahmed, Sadeera Samarawickrama, Zaman Khan, and Noor Ahmed will miss the game as they are busy with their national duties. Meanwhile, Rashid Khan is recovering from lower back surgery.

The pitch at this venue is likely to assist batters right from the first ball of the game. However, spinners are likely to shun the run-scoring rate in the middle overs. Any score above 160 would be tough for the chasing sides to win the game.