BPL 3 Match 2 Review: Dhaka Dynamites v Comilla Victorians, Dynamite sail past Victorians comfortably

BPL 3 Match 2 Review: Dhaka Dynamites v Comilla Victorians, Dynamite sail past Victorians comfortably: Dhaka Dynamites began their BPL 3 campaign with a straightforward win over Comilla Victorians in a low scoring match. Mashrafe Mortaza, the Comilla Victorians’ skipper won the toss and elected to bat first against the Kumara Sangakkara led Dhaka Dynamite in a packed Sher-e-Bangla stadium at Dhaka.

The decision, however, backfired quickly for the Victorians as the Dynamite bowlers began to dominate their batsmen from the very first over. The first four overs of the first innings saw one wicket fall in each successive over.  Medium fast bowler Abul Hasan and Farhad Reza completely unsettled the Comilla Victorians top order.

Abul Hasan dismissed opener Imrul Kayes with the third ball of the first over. His opening partner Litton Das also did not survive and was dismissed immediately in the second over by Farhad Reza. Abul Hasan continued his impressive spell and struck again in the 3^rd over as Shuvagata Hom was caught in the cover-point region by Yasir Shah. Mustafizur Rahman, brought in as the first change, bowled an impeccable delivery to clean bowled Marlon Samuels. Victorians had now crumbled to 27/ 4 in just four overs.

The following batsmen provided no respite. Wickets kept falling consistently as no batsman could sustain at the crease against the disciplined Dhaka Dynamite bowling attack. In the middle overs, 20 years old left-arm spinner Mosharraf Hossain (2/15) also bowled miserly and claimed important wickets to keep the opposition under tremendous pressure.

The 8^th wicket partnership of 43 runs between skipper Mashrafe Mortaza (25 from 26 balls) and Kris Santokie (21 from 16 balls) was the biggest partnership of the Comilla innings. The only other batsmen to reach double figures mark were Mahamudul Hasan (22 runs from 30 balls) and Ariful Haque (13 runs from 13 balls). Somehow, the Victorians managed to reach a meager total of 110 runs in 20 overs.

The Dhaka Dynamites had a very easy task on their hands. With a comfortable target of 111 to chase, the openers Shamsur Rahman and Nasir Jamshed started patiently. But soon, captain Mashrafe Mortaza gave the breakthrough for the Victorians. He foxed Shamsur Rahman with a slower delivery whose mistimed shot went straight to Marlon Samuels standing at mid-off.

Kumara Sangakkara came in at number three and joined Nasir Jamshed at the crease. Both stitched a 55 runs partnership between them. The superb partnership was soon brought to a halt by Sunil Narine who trapped Jamshed leg before. He was completely outsmarted by a knuckleball and totally missed the ball while trying to flick it on the leg side.

Just when it was looking like a very smooth ride for Dhaka, 19-year-old Abu Hider sent the Sangakkara (25 from 29 balls) to the dugout. A full-length delivery angling in uprooted his middle and leg stumps. Abu Hider comes back again in the 19^th over and picked up the wickets of Mosaddek Hossain, who, with an aim of finishing the match in style, played a big shot but got caught at deep mid-wicket by Sunil Narine.

With 4 runs more required from the last six deliveries, the matched looked exciting. But, Ryan ten Doeschate and Nasir Hossain ensured that there was no twist in the match as they comfortably finished off the chase with 4 balls to spare.

It was a commendable job by Victorians’ bowlers who stretched the match until the final over. Few quick breakthrough would have created more chances for them. Abu Hider (2/17) was their best bowler. Mashrafe Mortaza (1/23) and Sunil Narine (1/24) also put in their best efforts. A better batting performance would have allowed them to challenge the Dhaka Dynamites today.

Brief Scores:

Comilla Victorians – 110/8 (Mashrafe Mortaza 25; Abul Hasan 3/29)

Dhaka Dynamites – 112/4 (Nasir Jamshed 44; Abu Hider 2/17)