The much-awaited Dhaka Premier League ended with a new champion as Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club clinched their first ever title.
The competitive league this season saw a few brilliant matches and close encounters.
There were some good individual performances overall throughout the tournament but it was Anamul Haque who stole the spotlight with his blistering form and stunning consistency.
Anamul, the right-hand wicketkeeper-batsman, has scored tons of runs and rewrote the history books as he became the first batter to score more than a thousand runs in a single season of DPL since it got the List A status in 2013.
Previous record was held by Saif Hasan, who scored 814 runs from 12 matches in 2019.
Anamul finished the season with 1,138 runs from 15 innings with an average of 81.28 and strike rate of 98.61.
According to a stat from ESPNcricinfo, Anamul scored the most runs in a List A tournament in a single season.
The second in the list is former Australian international Tom Moody, who scored 917 runs in Sunday League in 1991 for Worcestershire.
Anamul has scored three centuries and nine half-centuries, meaning he has scored more than 50 runs in 12 innings out of 15, which showed remarkable consistency of his batting throughout the tournament.
Such a brilliant performance is certainly a food for thought for the national selectors as Anamul should definitely be considered for the national team now, or at least the A team, particularly in white-ball cricket in the coming months.
Scoring more than a thousand runs in a single season is certainly the best way to strengthen one’s case for the national team call-up and Anamul did it in the best possible way by scoring heavily and achieving record breaking performances.
Anamul has played four Tests, 38 ODIs and 13 T20Is for the Tigers and he last played an ODI during July 2019 and T20I November 2015.
Meanwhile, veteran batsman Naeem Islam also had a brilliant season as he scored 859 runs from 14 innings with an average of 66.07 for Legends of Rupganj.
Naeem scored two centuries and five half centuries.
Abahani Limited captain Mosaddek Hossain had a very good season with the bat as well as the right-hander scored 658 runs from 15 innings.
Another notable mention could be Sabbir Rahman as the national team outcast scored 515 runs in 14 innings in the season for Legends of Rupganj with an impressive strike rate of 102.38 and played some match winning innings during the campaign.
Chirag Jani was the most impressive all-rounder in the DPL as Rupganj’s Indian recruit scored 597 runs in 14 innings and also took 27 wickets in 15 innings.
In the bowling department, the 19-year old left-arm spinner Rakibul Hasan topped the table with 29 wickets from 15 matches at an average of 20.37 and an impressive economy rate of 4.26.
However, Kashmir-born Parvez Rassol was perhaps the most impactful player.
The 33-year old all-rounder got 28 wickets at an astonishing average of 15.85, amazing economy rate of 3.15 and played some vital innings to help his side Sheikh Jamal win many matches and ultimately raise the silverware.
Abahani’s Saifuddin is fourth in the wicket-takers list with 22 scalps and the right-arm pacer bowled with good rhythm after coming back from injury.
Veteran Mashrafe bin Mortaza impressed everyone as the 38-year old took 20 wickets from 14 innings for Rupganj with best bowling of 4/38.
It looked like the former captain and current Member of Parliament still has a lot of hunger to achieve success in the domestic circuit.
National team ODI captain Tamim Iqbal played only four games in the Super League stage as the Tigers were busy playing away series in South Africa.
But even that short period was enough to show that the southpaw is in blistering form as he struck two centuries and one-half century.
He scored 344 runs at an average of 114.66 and strike rate of 113.53.
Wicketkeeper-batsman Nurul Hasan was brilliant with the bat as well as he scored 483 runs (average 96.6) from just eight innings and played some vital knocks in several crucial wins for Sheikh Jamal.
Star all-rounder Shakib al Hasan and experienced Mushfiqur Rahim played four games in the super six stage after changing their teams and Shakib scored 83 runs in three innings including a 22-ball half century innings, and also took six wickets.
Mushfiq on the other hand had a quiet outing as he scored 87 runs from four innings with just 56.49 strike rate.
Overall, it was a competitive season for local cricketers and a new champion, Sheikh Jamal, ended Abahani’s three-season dominance.
