Wonderful Wahab seals Dhaka win as Jaker makes history

Wahab Riaz's incredible bowling prowess and Jaker Ali Anik's record-breaking feat behind the stumps helped Dhaka Platoon cruise to an easy victory of runs against Rajshahi Royals in the Bangabandhu Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) T20 2019.

Wahab Riaz was the man of the match for his incredible figure of five wickets for eight runs. Jaker Ali Anik broke the BPL record of highest dismissals by a keeper in an innings as he grabbed six catches, the earlier record being of five by Umar Akmal and Mohammad Shahzad. 

Rajshahi skipper Andre Russell won the toss and decided to field first, inviting Dhaka to bat first. Batting first, courtesy of Tamim Iqbal and Asif Ali, Dhaka notched up a commendable score of 174-4. 

Chasing 175, Rajshahi were off to a flying start as their openers took 18 off Dhaka skipper Mashrafe Mortaza's first over. Afif Hossain was the ruthless one as he hit two fours and a six off his senior compatriot's bowling. 

They continued to blast the bowlers until Wahab Riaz struck in the fourth over to break the 39-run stand as Liton went back for 10 giving a catch to the substitute keeper Jaker Ali Anik, who was keeping instead of Anamul Haque who had back problems. The same thing happened to Alok Kapali only a couple of balls later as he went back for a duck in a similar way to Liton. 

Wahab picked up his third in the over when he got rid of Shoaib Malik, who tried to glance a delivery down the legside but only managed to glove it to the keeper. The umpire said no but Dhaka reviewed and replays suggested that there was clear contact, thus the decision was overturned. Wahab completed a phenomenal triple wicket maiden with Jaker completing all three catches. 

The three wickets clearly made Afif restless at the other end and failed to make proper contact with the ball. In the seventh over, he tried to slog Luis Reece but only managed to sky it and Jaker took his fourth catch of the match to send Afif back for 31. Ravi Bopara was the next to go in the ninth over for 19 as he was run out by Asif Ali, reducing Rajshahi to 66-5 from where victory looked very far away for them.

Jaker Ali Anik completed his fifth catch of the innings as Hasan Mahmud picked up Andre Russell in the last delivery of the 12th over for 7. And in the very next delivery, Farhad Reza was run out for a duck, reducing Dhaka to 77-7. 

Jaker completed his sixth catch of the evening as Wahab Riaz picked up his fourth to send Nahidul back for 14. Jaker with this catch made a new BPL record as this was the highest number of dismissals by a keeper in a match, breaking Mohammad Shahzad and Umar Akmal's previous record of five in a match. 

Taijul Islam fell as the ninth wicket to Shadab Khan for 8 off 12 deliveries and Wahab Riaz cleaned up Kamrul Islam Rabbi in the next over to pick up his fifth and bundle Rajshahi out for 100, handing Dhaka a win by 74 runs. 

Wahab ended with an incredible figure of 5-8 which was his second fifer in his 243-match career and also his career-best. Hasan, Reece and Shadab picked up one wicket each.

Earlier, Dhaka were in some trouble early on as they lost five wickets within the 13th over. But from then on, Tamim and Asif put on a show as they formed a 90-run partnership off just 46 deliveries to take Dhaka to a strong position. 

Winning the toss, Rajshahi skipper Andre Russell decided to bowl first. Batting first, Dhaka were off to a slow start. Their start took a turn towards worse when Anamul Haque was sent back by Russell. 

Anamul was given not out by the umpire, but Russell reviewed and replays showed that the ball kissed the bat before it went into Liton Das' gloves, thus the decision was overturned and Anamul had to go back for 10. 

Dhaka lost Luis Reece in the sixth over for nine as Russell took a simple catch off Shoaib Malik to reduce Dhaka to 35-2. 

Tamim Iqbal and Mahedi Hasan put up a quick stand of 37 runs to accelerate, but Mahedi was sent back by Ravi Bopara to break the stand. Mahedi had hit Bopara for a six in the previous delivery and tried to repeat it again but it proved to be one shot too many as he was comfortably held at the cover boundary by Taijul Islam to send the batsman back for 20 off 11 deliveries. 

Ariful Haque was the next to go for 7 as Farhad Reza came into the attack and went through his defences to clutter Ariful's stumps. Dhaka Platoon skipper Mashrafe Mortaza came in to bat at no.6 as a surprise but went back on his first delivery for a duck to gift Farhad Reza his second scalp of the game. Reza eventually missed out on his hat-trick, but two wickets in two deliveries pegged Dhaka back a bit. 

Coming in at no. 7, Asif Ali was on the fourth gear from the word go. He hit two fours and a six in Farhad Reza's 15th over but a gave a chance to Kamrul Islam Rabbi in the 16th over on 23 which the bowler managed to miss hilariously. Asif attempted another slog off Rabbi but only managed to skew it up in the air. The bowler, Rabbi himself went for the catch but at the very last moment, he pulled back and let go of a simple chance to get the dangerous Asif out. 

Getting a life, Asif continued to wreak havoc and brought up the 50-run stand with Tamim in 50 deliveries. Tamim brought up his fifty off 44 deliveries and got an opportunity in the next over as Afif Hossain dropped Tamim at the mid-wicket boundary. 

Asif soon followed with his fifty off 24 deliveries and the two batsmen continued to wreak havoc on the Rajshahi bowlers. Tamim stayed unbeaten on 68 off 52 deliveries with Asif being unbeaten on 55 off 28 deliveries. The last 10 overs of the innings produced 101 runs, which took them to a commendable total of 174-5. 

Reza picked up a couple of wickets with Russell, Bopara and Malik picked up a wicket each. 

This was Dhaka's fifth victory in the tournament and Rajshahi's second defeat. Both teams now sit on 10 points, with Rajshahi ahead at second with a superior net run-rate.