Can Mickey Arthur replicate a similar magic that helped Rangpur Riders clinch the maiden Global Super League (GSL) tournament – as his team has begun preparations for the upcoming BPL, country’s lone franchise T20 tournament, scheduled to begin Monday.

It seemed to be the question floating around at the Bashundhara Sports City on Friday where Riders began their preparation ahead of the tournament.

Arthur certainly is not a stranger in the Riders camp considering he had seen the management group along with some of their players who played in the GSL but he seemed to be a busy man trying to see his available resources considering the fact that some of the players of the Rangpur camp could not make it into the GSL due to their national responsibility like Nahid Rana and Rezaur Rahman Raja along with their latest inclusion- U-19 skipper Azizul Hakim Tamim.

“We can do relax today,” Arthur told his charges after being informed that most of the players had a run in the just concluded NCL T20 but along the way also insisted that they need to make sure about raising their fielding standard as he seems to be a firm believer that every runs saved is every run scored.

Left-handed Tamim caught his attention with his stroke play and bat swing while he also had a good look at others while constantly exchanging views with assistant coach Mohammad Ashraful and batting coach Shahriar Nafees. It’s too early to predict how far the South African can take his franchise in the forthcoming BPL but Rangpur management feels he got what it takes to deliver.

“I think his(Arthur) change in character is probably his biggest strength,” Riders team director Shanian Taneem, who saw him from close distance during the GSL, told Daily Sun on Friday.

“We went through a roller-coaster ride in Guyana (GSL). We experienced the ups and we also experienced the downs. When we are down, you can see one's true character. When we made mistakes and lost the game failing to score 17 from 24 balls, I saw the bad side of him. When the players are doing it wrong, he will be on your face,” he said.

“In 15 minutes, he will also be your best friend. He will be your father when he needs to be, he will be your strict principal. But when he needs to be your best friend, he will just switch. I think that's his biggest strength, the switching power,” he added.

Taneem said that Arthur also understands about the mentality of the sub-continent players as he worked in Sri Lanka and Pakistan and it will only benefit him taking the team forward.

“He has nothing to prove. He has coached three countries before. Not a famous name in franchise cricket, but he has the experience of dealing in Pakistan and Sri Lanka. He knows the thought process and culture of the sub-continent,” said Taneem.

“We mostly bring Pakistani or Sri Lankan cricketers in BPL, like he knows Khushdil (Shah) and Iftekhar by heart while he also understood the mentality of the Rider players,” he said.

“I think his vision is very clear,” he said.

Mickey will surely go back to the drawing board after seeing the session of the opening day as he have work in hand like who will replace Soumya Sarkar till he recovers and all those things to take the team till the very end and if he manages to cross the last hurdle it can be a new beginning for Arthur in the franchise-based T20 circuit where he is yet to make place for him.

Arthur knows it’s now or never for him and he is ready to seize the opportunity.