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Battle of the banned turns bland

Sports Reporter
SCORES IN BRIEF
SYLHET SIXERS v COMILLA VICTORIANS
SYLHET: 127 for 8 (Pooran 41, Afif 19; Saifuddin 2-13, Shahid 2-22, Mahedi 2-24)
COMILLA: 130 for 6 (Afridi 39 not out, Tamim 35, Smith 16; Lamichhane 2-16, Al-Amin 2-27) Result: Comilla won by four wickets.
Player-of-the-match: Shahid Afridi.
A much-anticipated battle between Steve Smith and David Warner turned into a dull affair aside from some chaos
in umpiring decisions and Shahid Afridi's late suige in yesterday's first Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) fixture at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur.
Though it was a match that Comilla Victorians won by four wickets against Sylhet Sixers after Afridi swept Alok Kapali for a four through fine-leg in the penultimate bail to chase down 127 runs, this was yet another low-scoring match which hardly produced any entertainment.
The focus was on Smith, who led the Victorians, and Sixers' captain David Warner but the former Australian skipper had fallen for a 17-ball 16 and his former deputy skipper's innings lasted only 13 balls before he was run-out for 14 in the fifth over.
Rather Afridi, who also contributed with the ball by taking the wicket of Towhid Hridoy, hogged the spotlight in the end as the dashing right-hander hit five fours and two sixes in his unbeaten 25-ball 39 and most importantly Afridi, who tends to throw away his wicket in crucial situations, batted responsibly to ensure his side crossed the finish line. Afridi was not only hitting the ball hard but was shrewd in his shotmaking, with late cuts and sweeps.
Bangladesh opener Tamim Iqbal also deserved some credit as the left-hander held the chase together during his 34-ball 35 before falling in the 17th over. Victorians
required 31 runs more after the dismissal of Tamim, and Afridi, along with Mohammad Saifuddin, secured the winning runs in only 3.2 overs. Saifuddin also took two wickets.
The Victorians' innings also saw chaos when Smith was given caught behind off the bowling of pacer Al Amin. The on-field umpire initially rejected the appeal but Al Amin immediately asked for a review and without a conclusive decision in the absence of snickometer in the DRS, the third umpire opted to give Smith out on 16.
Warner, too, had failed to make an impression in his first BPL game after yet another controversial decision, this time in the form of a run-out when young Towhid Hridoy did not respond to a single and remained at the crease when both batsmen were at one end. The replays, however, showed that Warner was inside the crease with Hridoy just outside the line but the umpire decided to give Warner out.
Sylhet were struggling on 56 for five when Nicholas Pooran (41) and Alok Kapali (19) added 55 runs for the sixth wicket to take the score to 127 for eight in 20 overs, however, that ultimately proved too low to defend.