BPL 2016: Tamim Iqbal's blitzkrieg innings in vain; Defending champions Comilla Victorians continue winless streak

Barisal Bulls complete hat-trick of victories

Riding on fifties from Dawid Malan and Shahriar Nafees, Barisal Bulls coasted to their third consecutive win of the season with a 7-wicket victory over Chittagong Vikings and moved to the top of the points table. Set a target of 164 to win, the Bulls started cautiously scoring only 26 runs in the Powerplay and 66 at the end of the first 10 overs. But the tide soon turned in favour of the 2nd wicket pair of Malan and Nafees.

Bowling the 11th over, Vikings’ left arm medium pacer Imran Khan Jr. conceded 14 runs to the pair, including two free-hits - one of which was deposited over the midwicket fence for six by the former. Thereafter, the pair upped the ante with a display of clean hitting and closed out the game. Nafees in particular, continued his rich vein of form, sending clear signals to the national selectors for a recall – his innings of 65 was his third fifty of the season and the second on the trot.

Earlier in the day, Tamim Iqbal roared back into form after failures in his previous couple of outings. The Vikings got off to a flying start as their captain unleashed himself on the bowlers with a quick-fire 75. The opening pair of Tamim and Jahurul Islam added 81 runs in the first 10 overs - the former brought up his fifty in the next over.

Tamim shifted gears after his fifty, adding 25 more in his next 13 balls while he took Rayad Emrit for special treatment, scoring 17 off the 12th over of the innings, including his trademark six over long-on.

However, the Vikings’ innings lost steam after his dismissal as the bowling trio of Abu Hider, Kamrul Islam Rabbi and Al-Amin Hossain hit fuller lengths and mixed up their pace intelligently in the death overs to restrict them to 163.

Brief Scores: Chittagong Vikings – 163/3 (Tamim 75 (51), Jahurul Islam 36 (34), Anamul Haque 27 (19), Kamrul Islam Rabbi 1/21 (4); Barisal Bulls – 167/3 (19.4) (David Malan 78* (48), Shahriar Nafees 65 (59), Imran Khan Jr. 2/30 (4)

Result: Barisal Bulls won by seven wickets. Dawid Malan was awarded ‘Player of the Match’ for his unbeaten 78.

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Mehedi Maruf powers Dhaka Dynamites to the top of the table

Maruf scored 60 off just 39 balls (Image Courtesy: tigercricket.com)

Defending champions Comilla Victorians continued their winless streak into their fourth match of the season, after crashing to a 33-run defeat in the chase of 195. Faced with the uphill task of chasing the highest total of the season to taste their first victory, Comilla’s batsmen succumbed to the pressure and kept losing wickets in their pursuit of quick runs, collapsing to 74/7 by the 11^th over.

A late order surge from Sohail Tanvir and captain Mashrafe Mortaza – whose innings of 47 was studded with 5 sixes – couldn’t save the day after the top order collapse. But the damage that would have been inflicted on the net run rate by a bigger loss was minimised – a prospect they cant afford having lost all their games.

Batting first, Dhaka Dynamites posted a mammoth 192 – the highest total so far in this season. Openers Mehedi Maruf and Kumar Sangakkara got their team off to a quick start in the Powerplay. Later, Nasir Hossain joined the former at the loss of Sangakkara and they both put together a partnership of 84 runs for the 2^nd wicket in the space of about 9 overs at a run rate of 9.69.

Maruf’s innings of 60 came off 39 balls while Nasir contributed 43 runs to the partnership off 35 balls.

Quick cameos from captain Shakib Al Hasan – 24 off 13 balls and Dwayne Bravo – 13 off 10 balls – took the total to a score that looked improbable for the out of form Comilla Victorians. Among the Comilla bowlers, the Afghan import Rashid Khan stood out with figures of 3/28 when the rest of the bowling was taken for a lot of runs.

Brief Scores: Dhaka Dynamites – 194/5 (Mehedi Maruf 60 (39), Nasir Hossain 43 (35), Shakib Al Hasan 24 (13), Rashid Khan 3/28 (4);Comilla Victorians – 161/9 (Mashrafe Mortaza 47 (35), Sohail Tanvir 20 (16), Mohammad Saifuddin 18* (8), Mohammad Shahid 3/34 (4), Seekkuge Prasanna 2/15 (4)

Result: Dhaka Dynamites won by 33 runs and clinched the top spot in the points table. Mehedi Maruf won the ‘Player of the Match’ award for his match winning knock of 60 off 39 balls.

No matches are scheduled for the next couple of days. Table toppers Dhaka Dynamites will meet Tamim’s Chittagong Vikings and Rangpur Riders will take on in-form Barisal Bulls on Thursday.