Dhaka win by 4 wickets to turn their fortunes around against Barishal

Minister Group Dhaka bagged their much-needed first win against Fortune Barishal after two straight defeats in the first two games of the ongoing Bangladesh Premier League (BPL). Mahmudullah-led Dhaka beat Shakib's Barishal by 4 wickets to turn their fortunes around. They desperately needed a win and they did it against one of the strongest teams on papers of this tournament. 

Chasing down a modest total of 130 seemed too tough for Dhaka at one point as they lost their first four wickets for only 10 runs inside the first three overs.

Veteran batter, Tamim Iqbal, who has recently been opting out of T20 cricket was the first one to go for a duck. He missed a good length ball from Shafiqul Islam and was clean bowled in only the second delivery of the innings. 

Dhaka then lost Naim Sheikh, Jahurul Islam and Mohammad Shahzad in quick successions as they were reduced to 12 for 4 after three overs. Shafiqul and Alzarri Joseph shared the first four wickets between them.

The onus then was on skipper Mahmudullah Riyad and experienced campaigner Shuvagata Hom to guide their team home from that situation.

In the fifth over of the innings, Shafiqul got a bit carried away and sprayed it around as he gave away 18 runs. It helped the calm and experienced heads of Mahmudullah and Hom. They played cautiously after that over as the run rate was never a problem for Dhaka.

Mahmudullah and Hom built a 69-run partnership from there on and placed their team in a comfortable position to win the match.

And once Hom fell for 29 off 25 deliveries, Russell came out, struck them around like only he can, and got it done with quickly. He eventually remained unbeaten on 31 from 15 balls hitting three 4s and two maximums. 

But it was the skipper Mahmudullah who top-scored with 47 off 47 balls where he struck three boundaries and a maximum. 

For Barishal, Shafiqul Islam and Alzarri Joseph bagged a brace each. Skipper Shakib Al Hasan picked up a wicket and became the second player ever to achieve the double of 4000 runs & 400 wickets in T20 cricket. Caribbean all-rounder Dwayne Bravo picked up the other wicket. 

Earlier, late cameos from Chris Gayle and Dwayne Bravo were just enough to take Fortune Barishal close to 130 in the first innings against Minister Group Dhaka at Mirpur on Monday. Barishal eventually finished on 129 for 8. 

Barishal had a tough start to their innings, losing three wickets in the first powerplay. Openers Najmul Hossain Shanto and Shykat Ali departed in consecutive overs as Barishal crippled fir 23 for 2 after 5 overs. Towhid Hridoy was the next man to go for a duck. 

Skipper Shakib Al Hasan then built a struggling  37-run partnership with Chris Gayle who is playing his first game for the franchise after arriving in Dhaka on Sunday. 

Shakib departed for 23 off 19 with two boundaries and a six to his name. Wicketkeeper Nurul Hasan arrived and departed in no time.  

Gayle kept calm on the other end. He built his innings slowly before going all over the Dhaka bowlers. He eventually scored 36 off 30 deliveries where he struck three boundaries and two maximums. 

It was all Dwayne Bravo after that. He remained unbeaten on 33 off 26 to take his team to a somewhat decent position. 

Dhaka skipper Mahmudullah Riyad used six bowlers and all of them got at least a wicket. Andre Russel and Isuru Udana bagged a brace each while Rubel Hossain, Shuvagata Hom, Hasan Murad and Riyad himself picked up a wicket respectively. 

Losing skipper Shakib Al Hasan credited Mahmudullah and Co. for winning the match quite convincingly despite being 4 down for only 10.

"I thought we did well with the bat. It was sticking a bit and the wicket got better in the second innings. But with them at 10/4, we should have taken the game. All three day games were low scoring. We can't point fingers at our batsmen. Night games have been high-scoring, and hopefully, the batsmen can do well in the next game. On 10/4, we should have killed it, but credit to Mahmudullah and Hom," Shakib said at the post-match presentation.

Winning skipper and the man of the match Mahmudullah Riyad credited the whole team for the victory. 

"Our bowlers executed well enough. The heart was there today because we knew we had to bounce back and bounce back strongly. Hom batted really well and took the pressure off me. We just wanted to bat normally, but in the fifth and sixth overs, he got some big overs. Russell bowled really well in the death. Isuru gave us the important breakthrough of Gayle. So overall it was a good performance," said Mahmudullah.