Tamim becomes first half-centurion of BPL-3

Jannatul Naym Pieal

Dashing opener Tamim Iqbal has become the first batsman of the third season of the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) to score a half century.

Tamim, the captain of the Chittagong Vikings, won the toss against Rangpur Riders and chose to bat first. After coming to open the innings alongside Sri Lankan veteran Tilkaratne Dilshan, Tamim justified his decision to bat first with bringing up a splendid beginning for the Vikings.

Tamim and his partner Dilshan started to go over the bowlers right from the word go and crossed 50-run mark within 4 overs. Tamim stitched a 52-run partnership with Dilshan before the latter got dismissed by Abu Jayed Chowdhury in the very first delivery of the 5th over.

Then came Anamul Haque Bijoy. Arrival of a new batsman in the crease could not slow down the momentum of Tamim’s fiery batting as he continued to hit the ball with equal easement. Tamim made another 65-run partnership with Anamul before he himself became the next hunt of the Riders.

In the 13th over by Saqlain Sajib, Tamim played the premeditated slog-sweep off a ball that turned to outside off and consequently got it off the top-edge and deep mid-wicket gleefully accepted it with a reverse-cup onto his chest. It was eventually an easy catch for Misbah-ul-Haq, and he didn’t make any mistake to capture it.

Before taking his way to the pavilion, Tamim scored a brilliant 51 off 32 balls with clobbering 6 fours and one maximum.