SPORTS REPORTER FROM CHATTOGRAM

Minister Group Dhaka’s BPL did not start the way they would have liked, especially after bagging three big-name national stars in Tamim Iqbal, Mahmudullah Riyad and Mashrafe Bin Mortaza. They began with two defeats and the top-order not scoring fast runs and only skipper Mahmudullah finding consistency. Coming into the Chattogram leg, Tamim Iqbal’s stormy hundred in the very first match may just have provided the gust for something more significant from this BPL. Yesterday, coming across another tournament favourite in Comilla Victorians, the key players once again turned up.

Tamim gave the start at the top with a 35-ball 46 before Mahmudullah joined the party with a smashing knock. Hitting some incredible T20 shots during an unbeaten 41-ball 70 -- his highest knock in T20s -- laced with three fours and three sixes, he took his side to a strong total of 181 for six. That ensured a 50-run win and took Dhaka to top of the table alongside Comilla.

Mahmudullah joined the 5,000-run club in T20s and also became the third batter to join the 2000-run club in BPL behind Tamim Iqbal and Mushfiqur Rahim.

However, it was evident that there were problems for Dhaka to sort out, with the likes of Andre Russell not yet having the expected impact. Another curiosity was national opener Mohammad Naim featuring at number seven, having to make way for more aggressive openers in Tamim and Mohammad Shahzad.

“How they sort out their combination is up to the franchise. We can’t intervene. Since he’s not playing at the top, it’s a matter of concern. The BPL is a big platform for young players. Youngsters can create guidelines by seeing how experienced players perform,” national selector Minhajul Abedin told reporters at Chattogram yesterday.

ADRS making things even more difficult

In the 11th over of the evening match between Fortune Barishal and Chattogram Challengers, Barishal’s Nazmul Hossain Shanto tried to cut away an Afif Hossain delivery but as the ball went through to the wicket-keeper, Chattogram went up in appeal with Afif looking certain that Shanto had nicked the delivery. The umpire Masudur Rahman did not respond but Afif immediately asked for the review. The third umpire instructed that there was definite sound when ball passed the bat and the on-field umpire should overturn his decision. Masudur had an incredulous look at his face while Shanto continued to shake his head as he was given out. Shakib Al Hasan told Shanto to wait while talking with the umpires but the call had already been made. However, given out due to noise seems rather unconvincing in these days of hot spot and Snickometer. A source of sound might have come from another source altogether, but above all, without a real DRS in place, the decision was wholly inconclusive, bringing BPL ADRS reviews back into focus.

Shakib and Mrittunjoy troika

Barishal skipper Shakib Al Hasan had been getting into some form with the bat in an earlier match and yesterday struck his first fifty of this edition of the tournament. In the 15th over of the match, Shakib made his presence felt, hitting spinner Nasum Ahmed for three consecutive sixes to push the tempo. However, having reached his 20th T20 fifty, he fell to Mrittunjoy after a 31-ball 50. Mrittunjoy, who had bagged a hattrick in the previous game, found the mark again at the death, picking up three wickets in the penultimate over of the innings with his cutters and change of pace. But there was no hattrick this time around as he bowled a no-ball to Mehedi Hasan Rana after sending back Irfan Sukkur and Mujeeb Ur Rahman in back-to-back deliveries.