Two tons and a hat-trick showcase an ideal T20 game

Fortune Barishal and Minister Group Rajshahi were not only occupying the last positions of the points table but also they were termed weaker sides before the start of five-team Bangabandhu Cup T20. However, on Tuesday, those two teams generated the biggest run feast in the tournament, which saw below par scores in most of the matches considering the norm of the modern game, and produced one of the most ideal T20 matches in the history of Bangladesh cricket. 

Evidently the high scoring match saw many records being shattered and interestingly, among the mayhem created by the batsmen, a bowler could manage to get a hat-trick as well in the eventful game. 

Century by Bangladeshi batsman is kind of a rare case T20s and this match not only produced one, but also two centuries in two innings.

The first century of the day was scored by Rajshahi skipper Najmul Hossian Shanto. His innings of 109 off 55 balls was adorned by 11 sixes that equaled the record set by Tamim Iqbal. Tamim, who was incidentally the counterpart of Nazmul on Tuesday, smashed 11 sixes in the Bangladesh Premier League final for Comilla Victorians at the final match of BPL 6 last year. 

Tamim’s another record of scoring quickest century off 50 balls however narrowly survived for the time being as Shanto, who started the innings very slowly getting seven runs from first 12 balls, reached three-figure mark from 52 balls.  

However, the record was broken in the very next innings by a teen-age teammate of Barishal skipper. Parvez Hossain Imon, who is still months away to celebrate his 19th birthday, scored unbeaten 100 off just 42 balls hitting nine fours and seven sixes and also formed a crucial century stand with his captain Tamim . 

Overall Rajshahi and Barishal batsmen smashed 28 sixes in the match, 18 from Rajshahi and 10 from Barishal.  This is the highest number of sixes in a domestic T20 match in Bangladesh as the previous record was 27, set during the BPL match between Dhaka Gladiators and Sylhet Royals back in 2013.

Among all these batting records, Barishal pacer Kamrul Islam Rabbi has also entered in to the record book as he took four wickets in the last over of the first innings including a hat-trick. Rabbi took the wicket of Nurul Hasan, Shanto and Farhad Reza in the first three balls of the 20th over. He also took the wicket of Saifuddin in the fifth ball of that over. With the hat-trick, Rabbi has become only the fourth bowler to achieve the feat in T20 history of Bangladesh. The other bowlers who completed hat-trick in this format are pacer Al Amin Hossian (twice), spinner Alis Al Islam and pacer Manik Khan.

Bangladesh fans are often frustrated with the lack of firepower from the local batsmen in the era where most other nations regularly score and chase down 200 plus scores in this format. The one-off match may not ease those concerns but not only the entertaining parts, also the performances of young guns like Shanto and Emon will definitely boost hopes for future.