Opener Tamim Iqbal became the first batsman to reach 2000 runs in Bangladesh Premier League T20 history, as Dhaka Platoon coasted to victory against Sylhet Thunder in the ongoing special edition of the tournament Tuesday.
Alongside Tamim, the Dhaka innings was powered by a blistering half-century from Mahedi Hasan, and the side reached the target of 175 with eight wickets in hand and nine balls to spare at Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium.
Tamim batted through the entire innings and ended on an unbeaten on 60 off 49 deliveries, bringing his total to 2,029 runs in 63 BPL innings.
The second most prolific scorer in BPL history is wicketkeeper-batsman Mushfiqur Rahim with 1937 runs in 72 innings.
Young bowling all-rounder Mahedi raised his reputation with the bat further with another aggressive innings.
Dhaka's Mahedi Hasan goes big Dhaka Tribune/Md Manik
His 28-ball 56 included five boundaries and three sixes.
The chase was off to a sensible start as openers Tamim and Anamul Haque added 58 runs to the board in 7.2 overs, before the latter departed scoring 32.
Tamim and Mahedi then added 87 runs to the tally for the second wicket, as Mahedi notched his second consecutive half-century in the tournament.
The final nail in the Sylhet coffin was hammered by Jakir Ali, who took the last runs of the chase with consecutive boundaries to finish not out on 22 off 11 balls.
Sylhet used seven bowlers in the attack, but surprisingly did not use specialized left-arm spinner Nazmul Islam Apu until the 13th over of the innings.
Dhaka's Shahid Afridi bowls Dhaka Tribune/Md Manik
Following the game, Sylhet captain Mosaddek Hossain explained that Tamim’s being on the pitch had led them to delay Nazmul’s entry to the attack, even though the other bowlers were not being effective.
Sylhet opted to bat first after winning the toss.
They had a shaky start, losing opener Andre Fletcher for a golden duck and Abdul Mazid for just eight runs, but the innings was stabilized with a 45-ball 73 from Johnson Charles and an unbeaten 49-run innings from Mohammad Mithun.
At the end of their 20 overs, Sylhet posted 174/4, as Shahid Afridi bagged two wickets for Dhaka while Mahedi and Shadab Khan picked up a wicket each.
19TH MATCH, DPvST
SYLHET THUNDER INNINGS R B
Fletcher c & b Mahedi 0 1
Mazid c Mahedi b Afridi 8 10
Charles c Asif b Shadab 73 45
Mithun not out 49 31
Mosaddek c Shadab b Afridi 2 5
Rutherford not out 38 28
Extras (lb 1, w 3) 4
Total (20 Overs) 174/4
Fall Of Wickets
1-0 (Fletcher), 2-51 (Mazid), 3-93 (Charles), 4-109 (Mosaddek)
Bowling
Mahedi 3-0-33-1, Hasan 3-0-29-0, Shadab 4-0-23-1, Afridi 4-0-26-2, Riaz 4-0-35-0, Mashrafe 2-0-27-0
DHAKA PLATOON INNINGS R B
Anamul c Fletcher b Mosaddek 32 23
Tamim not out 60 49
Mahedi b Ebadat 56 28
Jaker not out 22 11
Extras (w 5) 5
Total (18.3 Overs) 175/2
Fall Of Wickets
1-58 (Anamul), 2-145 (Mahedi)
Bowling
Gazi 4-0-47-0, Santokie 3-0-16-0, Mosaddek 3-0-30-1, Ebadat 3.3-0-24-1, Milon 2-0-17-0, Rutherford 2-0-25-0, Nazmul 1-0-16-0
Dhaka Platoon won by eight wickets
MoM: Mahedi Hasan (DP)
