The Twenty20 juggernaut of the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) sixth edition concluded on Friday after a fierce battle of the seven franchisee teams for the credible BPL trophy since last over a month.
Comilla Victorians finally conquered the heist amid six and four drumbeat overpowering the red hot-favourites Dhaka Dynamites by 17 runs in the nerve-jangling, high-scoring final at the sell-out local crowd of the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium (SBNCS) in Mirpur.
The just-concluded edition of the BPL was the most successful among the erstwhile editions as many thought because a string of high profile globe-trotting players and star batsmen the likes of Australian stroke-makers Steven Smith and David Warner along with South African batting genius AB de Villiers and English batsman Alex Hales came to perform here in the cash-rich tournament.
There were Chris Gayle, Andre Russell, Keiron Pollard, Sunil Narine, Shahid Afridi, Shoaib Malik, and Mohammad Hafeez along with Lasith Malinga, Thisara Perera, Imran Tahir, Yasir Shah, Sandeep Lamichhane and Tanvir Sohel.
The bulk of them have kept their scintillating traits among the crowd of the local and overseas star and superstar players as this BPL witnessed five centuries-the highest number of centuries in a season.
Laurie Evans of Rajshahi Kings, Alex Hales of Rangpur Riders, Rile Rossouw of Rangpur Riders, Even Lewis of Comilla Victorians, AB de Villiers of Rangpur Riders and Tamim Iqbal of Comilla Victorians mesmerised local crowds with their batting mastery.
Riders’ South African recruit Rilee Rossouw dominated the bowlers from the initial stage of the BPL, where he played 14-match road string but placed top on the run-takers chart. The Proteas batsman amassed 558 runs with the help of a hundred and five half-centuries.
Tamim Iqbal is the second highest run-getter though he was not in form at the initial stage. When he came to form of runs at halfway mark, he had not looked back. Finally he blasted an unbeaten 141 in the final clash against Dhaka Dynamites that climbed to second, leapfrogging a string of line-up batsmen. He compiled 467 runs from the identical number of 14 matches.
The equal number of five local and foreign batsmen was in the top 10 list of highest scorers. Chittagong Vikings’ Mushfiqur Rahim (426), Dhaka Dynamites’ Rony Talukdar (317), Chittagong Vikings’ Yasir Ali (307) and Shakib Al Hasan ((301) among the local batsmen are in the chart beside Victorians’ Tamim Iqbal.
Sylhet Sixers’ Nicolas Pooran (379), Rajshahi Kings’ Laurie Evans (339), Rangpur Riders’ Alex Hales (304) and Andre Russell (299) among the overseas are in the table beside Riders’ Rilee Rossouw.
Even though Evin Lewis and AB de Villiers struck hundreds, they could not enter into the top 10 batsmen as they played less number of matches in BPL. De Villiers, dubbed Mr 360 for his dexterity to hit all the angles across the stadium, played only six matches for Riders, who did not played at knock-out stage in BPL, in where Evin Lewis played nine outings. The Proteas great scored 247 with the best of an unbeaten 100, whilst the West Indian hard-hitter made 273 with the best of 109 not out.
But local bowlers dominated the bowling chart as most of them are in the top 10 bowlers. Spin all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan of Dhaka Dynamites led the proceedings. The mercurial all-rounder picked up the highest 23 wickets with the best figures of 4-14.
Sylhet Sixers Fast bowler Taskin Ahmed was top on the wicket table despite being his team failed to move into the knockout stage. Shakib surpassed him in the final match.
Riders’ pacer Mashrafe Bin Mortaza and Dynamites’ pacer Rubel Hossain bagged the identical number of 22 wickets but Mashrafe placed third and Rubel fourth as the former played a match less than the latter.
Comilla Victorians’ young fast bowler Mohammad Saifuddin (20), Chittagong Vikings’ fast bowler Abu Jayed Rahi (18), Riders’ media fast bowler Forhad Reza (17) and fast bowler Syed Khaled Ahmed (17) are the other bowlers who found themselves in top 10 bowlers among local bowling battery.
Only Dynamites’ leg-spinner Sunil Narine and Victorians’ fast bowler Wahab Riaz among foreign bowlers placed into the top 10 bowlers.
It’s mentionable that fast bowlers performed well than the spinners. Only Shakib and his team mate Narine stepped into the top 10 bowlers. The rest of the eight bowlers are pace bowlers.