Drama and unethical activities are enticed to the Bangladesh Premier League Twenty20 as a bee is to its honeycomb. After being buried for the last two years, it only took a day in the third edition of the cash-rich Twenty20 league for drama to unfold.
From the time of the toss till the last ball bowled, the match between Chittagong Vikings and Sylhet Super Stars offered plenty of action to the spectators at Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium yesterday. Vikings, after a last ball defeat to Rangpur Riders in the opening game of the BPL, once again found their fate hanging finely in the balance before Pakistani seamer Mohammad Amir enabled the Tamim Iqbal-led side to register their first victory by just one run.
Tamim’s willow was on song yet again as the southpaw produced his second consecutive fifty and with crucial support from strong 19-year-old Yasir Ali, who made 63 from 52 balls on his T20 debut, Vikings put together a challenging 180 on the scorecard.
Sri Lankan Dilshan Munaweera struck six fours off his compatriot and namesake Tillakaratne Dilshan in only the second over to give the Super Stars a brilliant start to their run-chase. Tigers paceman Shafiul Islam bowled particularly well as his 3/25 was pivotal behind the Vikings success after Taskin Ahmed, Jeevan Mendis and Dilshan had leaked more than eight runs an over.
However, it was Saeed Ajmal who struck twice in his second over to remove the dangerous Munaweera and Mominul Haque and help Vikings stay in the game. Super Stars skipper Mushfiqur Rahim and Nurul Hasan added 55 valuable runs but in the end Amir’s economical overs sealed the deal for the Vikings.
With nine needed off the last six balls, Mushfiq took a single and watched Ajantha Mendis waste the next two deliveries. He got back on strike in the fourth ball and spiced up the game in the fifth with a powerful four through cover. However, Amir held his nerves and restricted the Bangladesh Test skipper, who remained unbeaten on 50, to just one run.