BPL 3 RECAP: The Bowler's Den!

The thought about T20 is that it is all about big hits and high scores and full on entertainment. Oh, wait! Full on entertainment does not always necessarily mean the big hits and massive totals on board. Why would the bowlers get deprived of providing entertainment to the crowd? This edition of BPL was dominated mostly by the bowlers, not chiefly due to the restless pitches and weather conditions, but mostly by their merits.

The very first match might not be a bowler’s match, but the high scoring match had one ingredient in it-Mohammed Amir’s return to competitive cricket after a pretty long break. And how? He bagged four wickets, one of which was a perfect yorker-length delivery to Misbah to completely rattle his stumps despite the veteran batsman being settled in well.

Gayle was bowled from the first ever delivery he faced off Mustafiz

Mustafizur Rahman continued with his impressive run throughout the third edition of BPL, trapping batsmen like Samuels, Tamim, Soumya, Shakib and the mighty Gayle too. He had Gayle’s stumps rattled off the first ever delivery the Lion faced off the revelation from Bangladesh and that too by the deadly cutter! Yet, the surprise package who came up into the lights through this event was another left arm seamer-Abu Hider Rony. At the end of BPL 2015, he finished second in the list of the highest wicket-taker’s list and what caught the eyes most was his aggressive intent and his determination to keep on improving himself. He would feel proud to think that his first wicket in the third edition of the Bangladesh Premier League was of the batting maestro Kumar Sangakkara, and that too off a lovely delivery-fuller on the middle stump and bowled! He finished with splendid figures in the first game-4-0-17-2.

Abu Hider was the Most Valuable Bangladeshi Player in BPL 2015

Abu Hider bagged 6 wickets in the first phase of BPL 2015 in Dhaka, well below Shakib Al Hasan who had 10 wickets. But the sensation caught up with the world’s number one All-Rounder across all formats of the game during the Chittagong phase. Shakib managed to take 3 wickets in the two matches Rangpur Riders played at Chittagong, while Abu Hider took 7 wickets from the 3 matches of the Victorians, which included a four-wicket haul too. He was exuberant in the field, the trademark run he gave after taking a wicket or at times giving the batsman a send-off as well. He seemed like having certain individualities in him and his attempt in constantly improving his skills was well observed and depicted by his skipper Mashrafe as well. He was named the Most Valuable Bangladeshi Player of the Bangladesh Premier League Third Edition.

Al-Amin produced the first and only hattrick in BPL 2015 against Sylhet Super Stars

But before he erupted to the scene with prominence, Al-Amin took the stage in great fashion. He produced the first and only hattrick of this edition of BPL against Sylhet Super Stars and won a low scoring tense match for his team. He was a hint too expensive with the ball, but it was he who ran through Sylhet’s top order in ruthless fashion to dismantle their plans of chasing down 108 of Barisal Bulls with ease. He also had a five-wicket haul in that match, the second of such milestone in BPL 2015, his team-mate Kevon Cooper produced the first of this effort in the first match of Barisal Bulls against Rangpur Riders. Mohammad Sami was the other of those bowlers from Barisal Bulls who had been extremely good with the ball and paid off his captain's trust on almost all ocassions when asked to bowl the penultimate death overs. He bagged 11 wickets but mots importantly bowled at an economy below 6.

Mohammad Shahid was another phenomenal individual, who displayed great intent with the ball in all the matches of the Super Stars, but was pretty unfortunate to have been on the losing side in most occasions.  He finished the first phase of the tournament sitting second in the list with 8 wickets, equaling Mustafiz. He had a four wicket haul against the Riders in their third match, which the Super Stars eventually lost by 6 runs. He finally ended the tournament with 14 wickets at a decent 16.14 average. Mohammad Amir and Mustafiz also ended with 14 wickets at good averages too, 12.64 and 15.28 respectively.

Mohammad Shahid displayed his impressive run as a short format bowler as well

Thisara Perera had been a great addition to the Rangpur Riders, as he did produce a few stand out efforts at crucial moments of some matches to take the Riders home with wins. He was unfortunate enough to sit in the losing side in the First Qualifier despite bowling well to claim 5 wickets, the third of this achievement in BPL 3. He and his Riders’ skipper Shakib Al Hasan both finished with 18 wickets in BPL 2015, at neck to neck averages-13.61 and 14.55 respectively.

Kevon Cooper topped the wicket-taker's list in BPL 2015 with 22 wickets

Kevon Cooper had the BPL experience previously ad he played with Mahmudullah Riyad as well in a different franchise. He bowled a unique last over in the Second Qualifier against Rangpur Riders to give away 13 runs and on the other side picked up 2 wickets for himself to claim a four-wicket haul and two other for his team, making it four wickets in the over! He finished at the top of the list of highest wicket-takers with 22 wickets, 1 wicket ahead of Abu Hider Rony.

The surprise click in the Victorians dugout was Ashar Zaidi. He has tremendous experience in cricket and in this format of the game, but the way he came forward with his performances was in one word-awesome. Zaidi was a class-apart with the ball in the First Qualifier against Rangpur Riders, where he claimed his first four-wicket haul of the tournament and ended with splendid figures, 4-0-11-4! He claimed 17 wickets with the ball, at an astonishing average of 10.41 and scored 215 runs with the bat and was rightfully named the Player of the Series. Zaidi was included as a bowling all-rounder and the way he bowled was simply terrific. No wonder why the title can be defended as “Bowler’s Den”.

Zaidi was the Player of the Series in BPL 2015 with 17 wickets in his belt and 215 runs with the bat too

The Series Leaderboard

Kevon Cooper topped the wicket-takers list

4/5-wicket hauls