Ruthless Dhaka crush a helpless Comilla
Sports Reporter
A ruthless Dhaka Dynamites showed a complete all-round performance to go on top of the BPL-4 point table in their fourth game by handing the defending champions Comilla Victorians a crushing 33-run defeat, fourth on the trot, yesterday at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium. Khulna Titans and Barisal Bulls also have six points but Dhaka Dynamites are far ahead of them on net run rate. Opener Mehedi Maruf hit his second fifty in the tournament to steer Dhaka Dynamites to the seasons highest 194 for five after which the bowlers tormented Victorians emphatically to restrict them to 161 for nine. Maruf smashed 39-ball 60, hitting four fours and three sixes, much to the delight of the enthusiastic Dhaka fans who turned up in abundance.
He and Kumar Sangakkara gave Dhaka a solid start, sharing 33 runs in 3.3 overs before the latter was undone by a fuller length delivery of off-spinner Al-Amin Hossain. Sangakkara by the time scored 20 off 12. Maruf then got the support of Nasir Hossain who though didnt score big, continued the trend of chipping-in-with significant contribution in each match. This time he made 43 off 35, with five boundaries and set up a platform of big score, adding 84 off 52 with Maruf.
Comilla leg-spinner Rashid Khan, however, at this point stemmed the run flow and reaped the rewards of the wicket of Ravi Bopara for eight and Mehedi Maruf in the space of three balls. Shakib Al Hasan then played a 13-ball 24 with one four and two sixes to awaken the prospect of propelling the score past 200 for the first time in this season. But Comilla removed him in the penultimate over to keep the chase under 200.
Rashid Khan claimed three for 28 to be the most successful bowler for his side. Comilla who came up with almost completely revamped squad following three defeats on the trot, couldnt turn the fortune. The wicket was pretty benign where chasing almost 200 wasnt tougher job but Dhaka bowlers executed the plan superbly to stall the progress.
Victorians got a quick start but right after opener Imrul Kayes lofted one to mid-off, scoring 19 off 11, their innings went in different direction. The batsmen got fours and sixes on regular occasions while Dhaka bowlers every time responded with a wicket.
Ahmed Shehzad, playing his first match for Comilla, smashed two consecutive sixes but Mosaddek Hossain Saikat dismissed him in the next delivery with a fuller one. He tried to slog but ended up being stumped by the quick work of Sangakkara behind the wicket. Jasimuddin who opened the innings with Kayes also perished to a big shot after repeating the feat of hitting four in the preceding delivery. However, it wasnt that one bowler caused all the damage rather Dhaka went on berserk collectively to make things difficult for the Victorians. And once their new recruit Ryan Ten Doeschate lost his stump, trying to cut Sekugge Prasanna, the match was over. The rest just reduced the margin with Mashrafe Bin Mortaza entertaining the crowd with a six hitting spree. He injected some life to the match by smashing Shakib for four sixes in the penultimate over to bring up some solace for the Victorians fans. He eventually was the highest scorer of the team with a 35-ball 47, clattering two fours and five sixes. Mohammad Shahid claimed three for 34 for Dhaka.
