Flurry of faulty fielding

Catches win matches - probably the most used cliché in cricket literature, was not in effect in the final of the ninth edition of the Bangladesh Premier League as several drops could not stop Comilla Victorians from becoming the champions of this edition.

Yet, it was a shambolic display from the Comilla fielders, who dropped four catches and produced several mishaps in the field, and while Sylhet dropped one, it ended up being more important than any from Comilla.

Morning shows the day and the first over from Comilla did the same in the final. Tanvir Islam, in the very first ball of the innings, tried to run Towhid Hridoy out at the non-striker’s end and gave away four runs in an overthrow as there was nobody backing up.

In the final ball of the innings, Mukidul Islam Mugdho tried to run Najmul Hossain Shanto and gave away four more as once again, nobody was backing up.

In the fourth over, Shanto tried to glance one off Tanvir’s bowling through third man and Sunil Narine let the ball slip between his hands to go to the boundary.

Najmul was let off by Imrul Kayes on 37 as the Comilla skipper had a regulation catch to grab on but spilt it to allow the left-handed batter to score 27 more runs.

Comilla were constantly leaking runs through their abysmal fielding effort and in the 16th over, Mustafizur Rahman dropped an absolute dolly. Ryan Burl had skied one off the pacer’s bowling and the Fizz could never settle under the ball, leading to dropping an easy one.

Then, in the 18th over, Moeen Ali and Liton Das, who are considered safe as houses in the field, dropped two catches on the trot, both of George Linde. First, the England all-rounder dropped a sitter at long-off, before Liton missed one running in from long-on. Both should have been taken but were not and cost four runs.

Sylhet, on the flip side, fielded pretty well, but they dropped one catch, which ended up being crucial.

Johnson Charles tried to hoick Linde but only reached Rubel Hossain at the mid-wicket boundary, who tried to grab the chance, juggled the ball four times, and then eventually dropped it. Charles, who was on eight at that point, stayed unbeaten on — off — balls to guide Comilla to victory.