Dhaka pound Rajshahi
Dhaka: An all-round performance came from Dhaka Dynamites enabled them to record their fourth victory in the AKS Bangladesh Premier League T20 crushing Rajshahi Kings by 68 runs in the 19th match of the tournament held on Saturday at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium at Mirpur in the city.
Chasing a massive winning target of 202 runs set by Dhaka, Rajshahi Kings found the chasse stiff losing wickets in regular intervals and finally dismissed at 133 in 18.2 overs.
Rajshahi Kings suffered early batting collapse and cound not fight back in the match in the face of tight bowling display by the DDhaka Dynamites bowlers.
Zakir Hasan was the top scorer with 36 runs skipper Daren Sammy made 19 as neither any Rajshahi batsmen failed to build any effective partnership to chase the daunting total.
Opener Mominul Haque (16) and Mehedi Hasan (10) were the other two Rajshahi batsmen who able to reach the double digit.
Pakistani all-rounder Shahid Afridi caused the major damage as he grabbed four Rajshahi's wickets conceding 26 runs in four overs while Abu Haider claimed three wickets for 11 runs.
Besides, Shakib Al Hasan captured two wickets giving away 222 runs. Evin Lewis of Dhaka Dynamites was named the player of the match for his impressive batting performance.
Earlier, a cameo blaze by West Indies batsman Kieron Pollard helped Dhaka Dynamites to post a massive total of 201 for 7 from their allotted 20 overs, after they were forced to bat first by Rajshahi Kings.
Openers Evin Lewis and Shahid Afridi gave Dhaka a solid start contributing 53-run for the opening stand before Hasan Miraz removed Pakistani dashing batsman Afridi for 15 runs.
The Left handed batsman Lewis played a classy 38-ball off 65 with the help of 10 boundaries and one over boundary before perished to Hossain Ali.
Johirul Islam (13), Shakib Al hasan (11) and Nadif Chowdhury (6) also lasted a little, leaving Dhaka in a deep trouble.
Then West Indies batsman Pollard came to the crease to take the charge to accelerate Dhaka's run rate with his hurricane knock.
The big hitting right handed batsman Pollard scored an unbeaten 25-ball off 52 runs studded with five boundaries and three towering over boundaries and durig the process he shared 62-run sixth wicket stand with Kumar Sangakkara to take the team's total to over 200 runs land mark.
The Sri Lankan great provided an ample support to Pollard with 22-ball off 28 runs, an innings that contained three boundaries, before he fell to Hossain Ali.
Hossain Ali was the most successful bowler as he grabbed three Dhaka's wickets conceding 38 runs. He was well supported by Mehedy Hasan Miraz who took two wickets giving away 32 runs.
With the day's win, Dhaka maintained their top position in the points table with nine points from six matches while Rajshahi Kings remained at fifth place with four points playing also the same number of outings.