Khushdil blitz guides Comilla to hattrick victory

Khushdil Shah's blistering 64-run innings sealed a third straight victory for Comilla Victorians in the ongoing Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) after three consecutive defeats in their first three matches. They beat Dhaka Dominators, who sit at the bottom of the table, by 33 runs. 

Batting first Comilla didn't have the brightest of the starts. Litton Das departed in the very first over for a duck. But Mohammad Rizwan and skipper Imrul Kayes built a solid 47-run partnership in seven overs which gave them some sort of momentum. 

Kayes dominated the partnership and scored 33 off 26 balls before departing. He hit three fours and two maximums. Rizwan, on the other hand, kept things steady and remained unbeaten in the end. He eventually bagged 55 off 47 deliveries hitting one boundary and three maximums. 

Johnson Charles came in next and played a 20-run innings off 19 balls. After that, it was all 'Khushdil show'. 

The Pakistani recruit came in and ran riot from the word go. He bagged 64 runs from just 24 balls at a strike rate of 266. He scored runs mostly down the ground. Slog shots down the ground was the most productive for him where he scored 47 runs alone in that area, hitting four boundaries and five maximums. He hit seven boundaries and five sixes in total.

He was eventually dismissed by Soumya Sarkar as Comilla accumulated 184/4 on the board from their allotted 20 overs. 

Taskin Ahmed again had a good day with the ball but he didn't get enough support from the other end. He picked up a wicket giving away 26 runs from his four overs. No other bowlers went for less than eight runs an over.

Chasing 185 runs was never going to be easy for Dhaka and they had a nightmare of a start losing two early wickets in their chase. Soumya's bad patch continued as he was dismissed for second straight duck in the tournament. He was followed by British cricketer Robin Das, who too was dismissed for a second straight duck. 

Mohammad Mithun played a 36-run innings off 34 balls but that was not going to be enough for Dhaka. Skipper Nasir Hossain continued his good form in the BPL and played a brilliant 66-run innings off just 45 balls. This was Nasir's first fifty in the tournament after a couple of score 30s and 40s in the previous matches. He hit seven boundaries and two maximums in his innings. 

Ariful Haque accompanied his skipper well to play a 24-run innings at a strike rate of 142. However, Dhaka fell 33 runs short managing to score 151/4 in the end.

Tanvir Islam did a brilliant job with the ball for Comilla. He picked up a wicket and gave away only 12 runs from his four overs. Mosaddek Hossain and Hasan Ali picked up a wicket each. 

Comilla skipper Kayes said they are finally executing their plans after three consecutive defeats. He also mentioned Mustafizur Rahman being a big miss for the side due to injury.

"It's a great win for us. We did a lot of thinking and we are now executing. If there's one set batsman, the other batsmen have the confidence to play their shots. Fantastic powerplay with the ball. Fizz (Mustafizur Rahman) is a big miss for us, hopefully he comes back and improves our death bowling," he said at the post-match presentation.

Man of the match Khushdil said he was happy to do his job and help the team going into the business end of the tournament. 

"First BPL fifty for me, that's my role in this team, to finish well. I really enjoyed my batting today. I enjoy fielding, feels great to contribute in all three departments," he said.