Minister Dhaka broke Comilla Victorians’ winning streak, thrashing them by 50 runs in Chattogram on Tuesday evening. Comilla lost their last eight wickets for 49 runs, collapsing from 82 for 2 to be bowled out for 131 in the 18th over, in reply to Dhaka’s 181 for 6. Although the loss, Comilla remained top of the six-team table with three wins from four games, while Dhaka jumped up to second place after their third win in six outings.
Andre Russell changed the sequence of the match, which was in the balance, in the 11th over - his first - when he removed skipper Imrul Kayes and the set Mahmudul Hasan Joy off the first and last balls.
Cameron Delport was run-out in the next over, before Karim Janat, Ariful Haque and Nahidul Islam fell in the space of four balls. The last two wickets were mere formalities as Comilla fell well short.
Dhaka’s innings was built around a good start from Tamim Iqbal and an innings of controlled aggression from Mahmudullah, who top-scored with an unbeaten 70 off 41 balls. While Tamim missed his fourth 50-plus score of the tournament by just four runs, Mahmudullah got to his first in this BPL season, and his tenth overall fifty in the competition.
Tamim got going in a style reminiscent of the time he scored a century against Sylhet Sunrisers, hitting a couple of sixes when he swung the ball over backward square-leg, a couple of fours through the covers, and a blast over long-off.
Mahmudullah, too, hit his fours and sixes in his favoured zones, flicking two sixes over fine-leg, carving Nahidul Islam for a six over extra-cover, and another one over midwicket. Left-arm spinner Tanvir Islam took two wickets for Comilla, having Tamim caught at short midwicket, apart from clean bowling Russell.
But Russell had a good outing with the ball, claiming three wickets. Legspinner Qais Ahmad and Ebadot Hossain took two each. Rubel Hossain, who bowled just the two overs, removed Litton Das in the first over to kick things off for Dhaka.
Not for the first time in the tournament, Comilla’s batters came up short, especially after Litton, Faf du Plessis and Delport fell cheaply. Even though captain Imrul got to 28, it was his wicket that triggered the batting collapse.
