The Victory Day T20 Cup, which ended yesterday with Shakib Al Hasan's Prime Bank Cricket Club being crowned uiauipFui», was the Bangladesh Cricket Board's (BCB's) attempt to replace the third season of the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) T20 that was scheduled to take place during this time of the year. It was also an opportunity for the players to garner some T20 practice ahead of the ICC World Twenty20 at home next year.

The question that lingers is the extent to which the tournament, which unlike the BPL featured only local players, achieved its desired aims. The two finalists were fittingly led by the two biggest cricketers in

the land, and interestingly, Prime Bank's Shakib and UCB-BCB Xi's Tamim Iqbal had opposing views on the tournament's value.

According to Tamim Iqbal, the national opener and captain of runners-up UCB-BCB XI, the inaugural competition was a grand success and was even good enough to replace the BPL.

"This kind of tournament should not stop after just one year. Yes, the BPL is very important, but here the focus is completely on the locals and they are the ones who have to take the responsibility to win matches. If they play regularly, they will have an idea of how to win matches for us in the international arena," said Tamim after the final, which his team lost by 55 runs.

"It's not the case that we don't enjoy BPL, but I think the players

enjoyed this tournament a lot and they took it very seriously. Take the case of Rumman (Sabbir Rahman). He performed well in front of a good crowd in Sylhet and this will definitely help him play in pressure situations in the future if he plays for the national team. This tournament should only be for the local players," he added.

Ace allrounder Shakib Al Hasan, who had earlier stated that winning the tournament would not mean much, stated the importance of the presence of an 'international flavour' in such contests.

"It is a different experience playing international cricket. The pressure is different. There was almost everything here. The only difference between BPL and this tournament was that there was pressure in every match in the BPL," said Shakib.

He however stated that the tournament had given him a better idea of his performance levels.

"As far as my performance is concerned it was alright as I started playing this tournament without any practice. But there are a lot of things that I need to start working on, right from fitness to other areas," he said.

Having played in leagues in the West Indies and England, Shakib's cricketing activities this year has been dominated mostly by T20 cricket. He however missed out on the tour to Sri Lanka and a crucial ODI series against New Zealand through injury. It's a trend that he wants to change next year.

"Personally the performance in 2013 was never close to my liking as I missed a lot of matches. 1 hope I can participate in all the available matches next year by remaining fit,"