Dhaka Dynamites changed the trend of early afternoon game of the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) and in doing so, they recorded the second biggest victory in the history of the cash-rich tournament, whacking Khulna Titans past by 105 runs yesterday at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium. While the tournament so far saw a string of poor scores, Dynamites racked up 192 for six to break the jinx, a score that proved to be tough to deal with for Khulna Titans, as they were skittled out for 87 in just 13 overs.
Opener Hazratullah Zazai, the Afghanistan recruit of Dhaka, continued his big-hitting show, smashing 36 ball-57 with three fours and five towering sixes to provide the impetus. And as it has been a trend, skipper Shakib Al Hasan did all damage in bowling with a figures of 3-0-18-3.
While Zazai followed up his 42 ball-78 against Rajshahi Kings, with yet another stroke-filled knock, Keiron Pollard and Rony Talukdar played two quick cameos to help Dhaka post the highest total of the tournament as of now. They indeed broke their record of 189 against Rajshahi Kings in their first match in which they won the match by 83 runs.
Sunil Narine propped up with 14 ball-19 to match with the aggression of Zazai, providing Dhaka a whirlwind start. Narine and Zazai treated Khulna bowlers in sheer disdain to amass 67 runs in just 5.1 overs, and looked utter threatening. David Wiese broke through with the wicket of Narine who top-edged a shot to mid-on after hitting one four and two sixes in his innings but Rony Talukdar kept up the mayhem, with 18 ball-28, hitting three fours and two sixes. Skipper Mahmdullah however got the better of Talukdar before Paul Stirling helped the side claw back in style, taking out Zazai and Shakib for naught in consecutive deliveries.
With 113 for four in 12th overs, Khulna seemed to have stalled the progress of Dhaka but such was the tournament favourite’s batting depth that it simply didn’t matter.
Keiron Pollard found the Midas touch that was missing in the first game as he struck 27 off 16 with two fours and as many sixes while Andre Russell made 25 off 22 with three sixes and Dhaka took the score beyond Khulna’s imagination. David Wiese and Paul Stirling snared two wickets apiece for Khulna. However Khulna couldn’t just match with Dhaka’s batsmen’s aggression. There was high hope on Paul Stirling to help the side provide an opening blitz but Shakib dented the hope by getting him caught by Andre Russell in the just second over of the innings.
Opener Junaid Siddique kept hitting and made 16 ball-31 with one four and three sixes but Dhaka kept taking wickets at regular interval with Sunil Narine, Mohor Shekih and Shuvagata Hom offering their assistance to Shakib. Their sly bowling was backed up well by the fielders, who inflicted three run-outs of Khulna batsmen to extend the agony.
The skipper however then got the prized scalp of Junaid to ensure Dhaka yet another comprehensive victory. Nazmul Hossain Shanto scored 13 and Ariful Haque was unbeaten on 19 and they were the other two batsmen alongside Junaid to reach double digit figure before Dhaka registered the victory with 42 balls to spare to script tournament’s second biggest victory behind Chittagong Kings 119 runs victory over Sylhet Royals in 2012 BPL.
Narine snapped up two for 20 to complement the stellar effort of Zazai and Shakib.