BPL 2015, Match 17: Comilla Victorians Vs Dhaka Dynamites Played at ZACS on 2 December 2015
Comilla Victorians 141/7 (Ashar Zaidi 45*, Liton K Das 31, Shuvagata Hom 21, Farhad Reza 2/26, Yasir Shah 2/26) beat Dhaka Dynamites 131/6 (Nasir Hossain 32, Kumar Sangakkara 30, Abu Hidar 2/30) by 10 runs
Player of the Match: Ashar Zaidi
When a team possess a leader like Mashrafe, who is willing to commit his all, it becomes extremely difficult to tame them. 141-run on Chittagong wicket cannot be considered a winning total if we judge it from other recent matches. But even a 25 percent fit Mashrafe can inspire his team marshalling his resources like a brave general in the battle front.
Very few people in his position would have dared to bowl and field with his troubled knees. He was limping and hobbling after every delivery. He stretched his hammy while taking the catch that dismissed Nasir Hossain. Yet he went on. Mashrafe bowled four tight overs getting an important wicket at crunch time, ran in taking a good catch and shuffled his bowling very intelligently. Mortaza delivered despite his body being more like a junkyard. His team won the tight contest by 10 runs and roared back to the top of the table.
Two teams were in a situation that team winning would have climbed up the ladder to the top. On matter of strength, teams were ideally matched though on man to man comparison Dynamites had more big names. Ahmad Shehzad and Shoaib Malik joining the Mashrafe squad bolstered their batting marginally. Wicket retained moisture and appeared a bit soft. Winning the toss and bowling was the right decision by Sangakkara. Dynamites have a very strong bowling attack. They have two of the top international mystery bowlers in Mustafiz and Yasir Shah. Nasir, Abul Hasan, Reza and Mosharraf Hossain are highly experienced in local condition. Against their combined operation Victorians were huffing and puffing till 14th over at 70/5. Of the top order only Liton Das, whom a section of little knowledge Bangladesh cricket fans considers favored, again proved his class with a quality innings of 31. It was really tough going on a wicket assisting pacers and spinners.
But Victorians were pulled out of the whole by little fancied Ashar Zaidi once again. He played some wonderful strokes in his unbeaten 45 of only 29 deliveries. Shuvagata Hom gave him ideal company with 21. The last 7 overs in the tight contest produced 71 valuable runs. 141/7 brought Victorians back in the contest but only just.
Dynamites in response appeared to be cruising with Sangakkara and Nasir settling into a vital partnership after losing two relatively inexperienced openers Shadman and Shykat. Perhaps Sangakkara made a tactical error in opening with two rookies in such a tight match. Mashrafe held himself back on the day as his knees were not permitting. His young charge Abu Hidar kept on teasing and Kulasekera proved too hot to handle. A brilliant run out of Sangakkara by Liton flick back the stumps from a zero angle turned the tide at a crunch moment. Hidar induced Nasir drive uppish and brave Mashrafe ran in with troubled legs to catch Nasir and possibly grab the match. He smelt victory which encouraged him coming to bowl as the fifth option. Dollar Mahmud drafted in the team as his cover, however, developed injury. How brilliantly Mashrafe bowled with control. His 4 overs cost him only 18 and he removed Ryan ten Doeschate with a cleverly concealed slower delivery. Hidar returned removing Malcom Waller and the controlled bowling of Hidar and Kulasekera kept Dynamites in check. Victorians won the tight contest by 10 runs.
Little known Zaidi for his match defining innings won the player of the match.
Comilla Victorians have leapfrogged Barisal Bulls to go top of the table. Mashrafe delivered despite his body being more like a junkyard. Kulasekara was outstanding at the death. Abu Hidar continued to impress. Though addition of Ahmed Shehzad and Shoaib Malik did not pay off in this match, hopefully will in the future. In the end, the difference was the slog overs. In the first half, Zaidi and Hom swung their bats catapulting the score over 140 when the Victorians never looked like getting there. Then with the ball, they strangled Dhaka and made sure the ‘Dynamite’ never set off.
The post-match comments of the rival captains were interesting to note.
Mortaza: That was phenomenal. The way Zaidi finished. Bowlers have been brilliant. That's how games go, especially T20s. Sangakkara was well settled and we needed him and Litton did it.
Sangakkara: “The situation we were in, we should have restricted them to under 130. Our final three overs cost us. But still, the way we were going, we should have got the runs. Mortaza bowled beautifully but we should have milked the singles. It was a bit lazy on my part. I should have had a dive in or much more of a stretch.”
This win almost assured Victorians graduation to the next phase of the tournament. Mashrafe must be rested for few matches if possible. He has to lead them from the front in the knock out stage. Even BCB must not risk another injury. If he plays nothing can resist him from bowling and giving his best even if he has to bowl with one leg.
All is not lost for Dynamites also to proceed. They are still very much in the hunt.
BDST: 0917 HRS, DEC 03, 2015
SR
