BPL 4, Match 34, Review: Evin Lewis powers Dhaka Dynamites to an easy win over Rangpur Riders

Consecutive defeats in their last couple of matches had seen Rangpur Riders slip down from the top 4 in th points table. The Dhaka Dynamites, on the other side, looked firmly on top of the list with 6 wins this season. The Riders were just a win away from getting back to the top four. They were up against the Dynamites challenge.

When the two sides had met in the first leg of the season, the Dynamites had romped the Riders. Rangpur Riders had a fair chance of settling scores in the match 34 of the season. Dhaka Dynamites won the toss and opted to bat first. The surface looked like a batting belter. Dynamites left out Kumar Sangakkara and brought in West Indies opener Evin Lewis.

Irfan Sukkur also got his first match of the season as wicketkeeper in absence of Sangakkara. The Rangpur Riders were jolted with the exclusion of their opener Mohammad Shahzad. Gihan Rupasinghe was brought in as the replacement for the game. Liam Dawson, who had captained the Riders in the last game in absence of regular skipper Naeem Islam, did not captain the side on the day. Arafat Sunny was given the responsibility to lead the side.

Coming into the match, Mehedi Maruf opened the innings with Evin Lewis for the Dhaka Dynamites. They both took the attack to the opposition from the very first over. Evin, in particular, looked in a prime touch. The Dynamites raced to 56 runs in the powerplay. Lewis brought up his fifty in the very next over as he clobbered Shahid Afridi over long-on for a massive six.

They raced past the 100-run opening stand only to add to the woes of Rangpur Riders. The 103-run stand that came off 59 balls came to a standstill when Soumya Sarkar managed to get Maruf out on 40 off 31 balls. Seekkuge Prasanna was sent in at number three for pinch hitting. He failed and was dismissed on 1 by Ziaur.

Lewis, who looked good for a ton, was dismissed by Sarkar in his next over. He perished after scoring 75 off 34 balls with 3 fours and 8 maximums. Late cameos by skipper Shakib Al Hasan (29 off 20 balls) and Mosaddek Hossain Saikat (14* off 9 balls) saw Dhaka Dynamites manage a decent score despite regular fall of wickets.

They ended up scoring 188/7 in their stipulated 20 overs. Rubel Hossain was the pick of the bowlers with 3/25 in his four overs. The Rangpur Riders had a horrible start to their run chase. They decided to open with Shahid Afridi in absence of Mohammad Shahzad. Afridi walked in with Nasir Jamshed to open the innings.

The move did not work on the day and Abu Jayed sent Afridi back for a duck. Mohammad Mithun became Jayed’s second scalp of the day to keep Riders on 9/2 in 2.1 overs. Gihan Rupasinghe, who as playing his first match of the season, had a disappointing game. He was dismissed on 8 by Shakib Al Hasan in the last over of the powerplay.

With 33/3 in the powerplay, the Riders looked no match for the Dhaka Dynamites. Jamshed struggled for 22 balls to fetch his 21 runs before being dismissed by Shakib. Liam Dawson (11) and Soumya Sarkar (1) followed the cavalcade as Riders stuttered at 46/6 in 9 overs. Ziaur Rahman and Sohag Gazi then showed some resilience to keep the run flow going. However, they never looked in command of the daunting run chase.

Gazi and Ziaur batted along to save the Riders from massive embarrassment of being bowled out cheaply. They put on 87 runs in 56 balls for the 7th wicket. In the process, Ziaur brought up his fifty. Gazi departed in the penultimate over by Dwayne Bravo. His innings ended on 36 off 26 balls with 3 fours and a six.

Ziaur remained unbeaten on 60 off 43 balls with 6 fours and 3 sixes as Riders could only manage 146/8 in their 20 overs. The Dhaka Dynamites won the match by 42 runs and sit comfortably at the top of the points table with 14 points to their name.

Brief Scores:

Dhaka Dynamites: 188/7 in 20 overs (Lewis 75, Maruf 40, Rubel 3/25, Ziaur 2/22)

Rangpur Riders: 146/8 in 20 overs (Ziaur 60*, Gazi 36, Jayed 3/20, Shakib 2/11)