Home ›› 09 Feb 2022 ›› Sport
A mesmerising last over from Mrittunjoy Chowdhury denied Minister Dhaka a win at Sylhet International Cricket Stadium, keeping Chattogram Challengers alive in the Bangabandhu Bangladesh Premier League 2022.
Dhaka only needed nine runs from six balls, but an eventful over from Mrittunjoy, which started with a wicket, snatched away the victory from the capital’s team on Tuesday.
Mrittunjoy earlier bagged a hat-trick in this tournament and proved himself very useful in the death overs, and on Tuesday, he proved his worth again as a prospect for Bangladesh.
But at the same time, the inability of Mohammad Naim hampered his team as he neither could take a single to put Tamim Iqbal on strike nor hit a boundary himself. Tamim, who was on 73* from 56 balls, got only one ball in the final over, and that too was the fifth legal delivery as Naim could not manage a single in the three balls he faced.
Naim is often criticised for his slow strike rate, unsuitable with the tempo of the format, and in this BPL, he has been pushed down the order whilst he has been the regular opener for Bangladesh.
In the first match of Dhaka against Khulna Tigers, Naim batted at number three. In the next match, he was pushed down to four, and in the next, he was brought back to three and continued for the same position in the next, where he scored 15 runs from 30 balls.
Naim’s batting was not required in the next game and the following match, he was sent to bat at number seven and finally, the left-hander was sent to bat at number eight, with only Arafat Sunny, Ebadot Hossain and Fazalhuq Farooqi left.
Poor batting display from Naim was nakedly visible as the final delivery, a free-hit after Mrittunjoy had bowled a no-ball in the previous delivery. But Naim could not make use of it. It was a low full-toss outside off-stump, but Naim punched the shot to the ground, showing his lack of game sense because it was a free-hit, and he would not lose his wicket.
The brilliance of Mrittunjoy could not be overshadowed by the callousness of Naim, but if he could put Tamim back on strike by taking a single, then things could go in a different direction.
Tamim carried his bat through the innings, staying unbeaten on 73, where he hit six boundaries and three sixes, but at the end of the day, his team lost and dropped to the fifth in the points table.
On the other hand, Chattogram rode on Mrittunjoy once again and claimed two points out of Dhaka’s grasp, though Shamim Hossain put in a valid effort by scoring 52 runs from 37 balls and put in a fine effort on the line, which was eventually grabbed by Benny Howell.
Batting first, Chattogram scored 148-6, and in reply, Dhaka were in control with Tamim at the one end, but the eventful last over by Mrittunjoy changed the colour of the game and took Chattogram to the fourth position and in the race for playoffs.
