The first qualifier of the Bangladesh Premier League has also been concluded as Dhaka Dynamites desecrated the Comilla Victorians. The Victorians, led by Tamim Iqbal, were made to taste sand by a perfectly all-round team performance by Dhaka. 

After winning the toss and deciding to bat first, Dhaka lost the wicket of Mehdi Maruf quite quickly. However, Evin Lewis formed a good partnership with Jon Denly, who, in turn, formed a fruitful partnership with Kieron Pollard. 

The trio scored 47, 32 and 31, respectively, before DJ Bravo put on the brakes for Dhaka. He got two quick wickets of compatriot Kieron Pollard and Dhaka captain, Shakib al-Hasan, but a late surge from Shahid Afridi took Dhaka’s score to 191. 

Among the bowlers of the Victorians, Hasan Ali was the cherry of the lot with enticing figures of 3/16 from 4 overs. Dwayne Bravo chipped in with 2 wickets, but was on the expensive side as he conceded 47 runs in his 4 overs. 

With 192 to chase against a strong Dhaka bowling line-up that consisted of Narine and the likes, Comilla came on to bat with Tamim Iqbal and Liton Das, but what happened next was akin to a house of cards facing a gust of storm. 

The result was something inevitable – Victorians fell face first and never really had a say in the match. Only three batsmen could score more than 10 runs as the team bundled out for 96 runs. Tamim Iqbal was the highest scorer with 31 from 28 balls. 

For the Dynamites, Shahid Afridi took 3 wickets after giving away only 16 runs. The Pakistani’s performance was perhaps one of the greatest all-round performance in the T20 format. He was well supported by Mosaddek Hossain and Shakib al Hasanm taking two wickets each.