Mahedi gatecrashes Rajapaksa’s party to secure Dhaka’s victory
Image : BCB
|| CF Correspondent ||
Mahedi Hasan’s sublime all-round performance trumped a fabulous knock of Bhanuka Rajapaksa to steer Dhaka Platoon to a comfortable five-wicket win over Cumilla Warriors at the Bangabandhu Bangladesh Premier League (BBPL) at Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chattogram on Monday.
Camilla's Sri Lankan recruit Rajapaksa batted throughout the innings after coming to open and put up a courageous performance in a pitch not so conducive to batting to help the side amass 160-3. But Mahedi who was key in restricting Cumilla to such total with an excellent figure of 4-0-9-2 decided to make it a match to remember.
He further came up with dazzling performance in batting too, hitting a 29 ball-59, which was pivotal in helping Dhaka to reach the winning mark with one ball to spare.
This was Dhaka’s third victory in five matches that propelled them to the third spot in the point table. In the contrary, it was Cumilla’s third defeat in five matches.
Despite Rajapaksa’s matured knock, Mahedi’s blitzkrieg innings was the ultimate difference in fact in a pitch that was not so conducive for batting like other days.
Dhaka got a setback when Robiul Islam Robi removed Anamul Haque Bijoy for two ball-duck and when it looked it won’t be a cake-walk, Mahedi’s whirlwind batting suddenly tilted the momentum towards Dhaka.
Alongside Tamim Iqbal, he shared an 84 off 47 for the second wicket stand, in which he alone contributed 59 off 29 before being dismissed by Al-Amin Hossain.
After his departure, Dhaka again fell in trouble when Mujeeb-ur-Rahman dealt a double blow to dismiss Asif Ali and Jaker Ali, both for naught, in consecutive deliveries.
Tamim who was under the shadow of young Mahedi so far, then steadied the ship, with the help of Mominul.
But as they looked set to sail the side home without any trouble, Tamim’s rash shot brought an end to the 34-run partnership. Tamim made a laborious 34 off 40 with four boundaries.
Mujeeb-ur-Rahman who got the two wickets in consecutive deliveries then came back in the death overs with Mominul Haque and Shahid Afridi looking set in the crease.
He hit one into the Shahid Afridi’s pad in the first ball and umpire gave out signal. He seemed to have claimed the hat-trick but Afridi reviewed the dismissal and finally overturned it to deprive him of the feat.
Later the duo helped the side to canter to the victory with Afridi hitting 16 ball-26 not out while Mominul was on an unbeaten 28 off 26.
Opener Rajapaksa battled lonely for the Cumilla after they were sent to bat first. The Sri Lankan recruit got a touch of luck as he was dismissed but that was by a no-ball. However, when the other batsmen found it tough to rotate the scoreboard, he fluently batted till the last to give the bowlers something to defend.
He struck four fours and seven sixes in his 96 off 65. His fellow opener Soumya Sarkar was dismissed on 10 and then the middle order fared badly with Sabbir Rahman bagging seven ball-duck while Dawid Malan scored 9 off 17.
Yasir Ali then gave him some support and scored an unbeaten 30 off 27 with two fours. But it was Rajapaksa’s free-flowing batting at the end which propelled Cumilla past 150, which looked highly unlikely mid-way through the innings.
Apart from Mahedi’s 2-9, Dhaka’s Pakistan recruit Shadad Khan took 1-32.
