Dhaka Dynamites’ West Indies spinner Sunil Narine celebrates a wicket during their Bangladesh Premier League match against Chittagong Vikings at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium on Monday. New Age photo
Dhaka Dynamites kept their hopes of regaining the title of Bangladesh Premier League alive when they beat Chittagong Vikings by six wickets in the eliminator match in Mirpur on Monday.
West Indies’ off-spinner Sunil Narine starred with bat and ball as he claimed 4-15 – his best bowling performance in the sixth edition of the tournament – to help Dhaka restrict Chittagong to 135-8 before he struck a blistering 31 off 16 balls to give his side a flying start in a short run-chase.
Narine was involved in a 44-run opening stand with Sri Lankan Upul Tharanga, who also struck 51 off 43 balls that catapulted Dhaka to 136-4 in 16.5 overs for a comprehensive win.
With this defeat, Chittagong got eliminated from the tournament while Dhaka set-up second qualifier against the beaten first qualifier in their pursuit of a place in the final on February 8.
Opting to bat first, Chittagong had Mosaddek Hossain to thank for giving them a respectable total as he struck a late cameo of 40 off 35 balls after Dhaka bowlers took the control of the match by taking regular wickets.
Pacer Rubel Hossain gave Dhaka the first breakthrough when he dismissed in-form Yasir Ali for eight in the third over before Chittagong’s South African recruit Cameron Delport and Shadman Islam put up 34 runs for the second wicket.
However, Deport, who played a vital all-round role in Chittagong’s previous two wins over Dhaka in the league phase, was run-out after a terrible mix-up with Shadman, which cut short his promising innings to 36 off 27 balls.
Caribbean off-spinner Narine then gave Dhaka the most valuable wicket of Mushfiqur Rahim (eight), the star performer of the side, who got a big inside edge that broke his stumps.
Narine then dismissed Shadman for 24 before claiming the wickets of Chittagong’s South African recruits Robbie Frylinck and Hardus Viljoen in his last over to reduce the side to 109-7 in the 17th over.
However, Mosaddek, who overcame a groin injury to play the game, came as a rescuer for Chittagong as he hit young pacer Qazi Onik two fours and a six in the final over to give their innings some modestly.
Chittagong pacer Khaled Ahmed tried his best to bring his side back in the contest as he claimed 3-20 but the lack of discipline in bowling and fielding departments made Chittagong suffer while defending their total.
Khaled firstly dismissed Narine before he removed Rony Talukdar (20) and Sakib al Hasan (0) in consecutive deliveries to raise the prospect for a hat-trick but Nurul Hasan (20 not out) defended his slower yorker to deny him.
Source: New Age.
