BPL 4, Match 7, Review: Samit Patel blasts Dhaka Dynamites to win it for Rajshahi

Dhaka Dynamites skipper Shakib Al Hasan was keen on carrying the winning momentum when he stepped out for the toss against Rajshahi Kings. Darren Sammy, his counterpart in the Kings camp, wanted to get first points on the board. The Kings had a disappointing loss to Khulna Titans in their first outing. They let the game slip from their hands despite captain Sammy’s heroics..

Luck seemed to favour Rajshahi Kings early on though. Sammy won the toss and elected to bowl first on a track that seemed a tricky one. With powerhouses like Sammy himself and Umar Akmal in the side, the Kings fancied their chances of chasing. The other two overseas players in the lineup were Samit Patel and Mohammad Sami. Dhaka had the veteran duo of Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene in their lineup.

There was definitely no dearth of experience in the Dhaka lineup. England’s Ravi Bopara and West Indies T20 veteran Dwayne Bravo were the other two foreign players to take the field today. The in-form batsman Mehedi Maruf came in to bat with Sangakkara. Maruf’s unbeaten fifty had won the game for Dhaka against Barisal Bulls.

The Dhaka Dynamites had a shaky start with Kumar Sangakkara departing cheaply on 2 in the 2nd over. The beneficiary was Mehedi Hasan, the young bowling sensation who seems to be on a dream run. One Sri Lankan replaced the other as Jayawardene came in at number 3. Maruf looked in fine touch as Dhaka put on 43 in the powerplay. However, twin strike from Samit Patel right after the powerplay set the Kings back in command.

Patel got rid of Maruf (25 off 22 balls) and Jayawardene (11 off 14 balls) in space of 3 balls in the 7th over. Things only got worse when Mehedi Hasan had Shakib Al Hasan stumped on a golden duck in the very next over. From 43/1, Dynamites slumped to 43/4 in space of 4 deliveries. It was down to Mosaddek Hossain Saikat and Ravi Bopara to rebuild the innings from that stage.

They did exceedingly well to put on 54 runs for the 5th wicket in 52 balls to give themselves some total to deal with. Bopara found it tough middling the ball but hung around to support Mosaddek, who took odd risks every over. The partnership was broken by Abul Hasan in the 16th over. Abul dismissed Bopara for 20 off 22 balls to bring Dwayne Bravo to the crease.

In the meantime, Mosaddek reached to his fifty and decided to up the ante. Dhaka’s batsmen, Mosaddek in particular, did really well to finish up well. With 39 runs in the last 4 overs, Dhaka Dynamites posted 138/5 in their 20 overs. Mosaddek played an unbeaten hand of 59 off 46 balls with 6 fours and a six while Bravo stayed not out on 13 off 10 balls.

Mominul Haque and Rony Talukdar came in to open for the Rajshahi Kings. They both raced to a flying start. It was Mosaddek yet again who proved to be the man with the golden arm. He ran put Mominul in the 3rd over on 9. Rony Talukdar perished 3 deliveries later and was stumped on 14 off the bowling of Shakib. Sabbir Rahman and Umar Akmal were the new men at the crease.

With 41 runs in the powerplay, the Kings were well on course for an easy chase. The wickets were their only concern. Both Rahman and Akmal looked solid in their approach. Just when they threatened to take the game away easily, Akmal was dismissed on 27 off 26 balls by Abu Jayed. Samit Patel arrived at the creased and played some free-flowing shot to take the score past the 100 run mark. A maximum into the stands followed and Kings needed just 9 to win off the last 3 overs.

A calm head Sabbir Rahman and a bludgeoning Samit Patel worked as the ideal combination for the Kings as they chased the modest target with ease. Rahman fell for 31 off 39 balls with just 1 run needed to win. They went past the 138 run mark with 6 wickets in hand and 11 balls to spare. Samit Patel remained unbeaten on 44 off 25 with 6 fours and a six.
With the win, the Darren Sammy-led side won their first match of the season.

Brief Scores:
Dhaka Dynamites 138/5 in 20 overs (Mosaddek 59*, Maruf 25, Patel 2/20, Mehedi Hasan 2/22)

Rajshahi Kings 139/4 in 18.1 overs (Patel 44*, Rahman 31, Jayed 1/14, Shakib 1/18)