Caribbean master hitter Chris Gayle at last pushed up his dominance and showed his natural power of destruction in the field.

Gayle storm passed to manufacture an unbeaten innings of 92 runs, failed short to produce another hundred in BPL due to lack of runs to chase in the board.

The crowds of Home of cricket in Bangladesh must have blamed the Vikings batsmen for not being able to deliver a good total in front of Barisal Bulls for having a deep – dyed entertainment from the Caribbean super hitter.

Gayle’s 92 runs came from just 47 balls. The innings was decorated with 9 tremendous sixes, straight into the gallery to the utter enthusiasm of a full house crowd.

The 76 minute stand of Gayle in the crease also manifested 6 fours all through the ground.

Nonetheless the innings did not start pleasingly for Barisal Bulls as other opener Rony Talukdar was run out in a direct throw from Dilshan in the fifth ball of the first over.

One down batsman Mehedi Maruf stroked 18 runs off 18 balls with 2 fours and a six before being uprooted by Taskin Ahmed.

Skipper Mahmudullah Riyad accompanied Gayle till touching the victory mark. He was unbeaten at 19 runs in 25 balls with 1 four.

However the encounter seemed rather easy for Barisal Bulls, a dispirited Chittagong Vikings was sent into bat first in the early evening of winter after Barisal Bulls won the toss.

The all pace attack of Barisal Bulls comprised of Mohammad Sami, Al – Amin Hossain and Kevon Cooper dismantled the batting line up of Chittagong Vikings after a solid opening stand of 52 runs was produced between Anamul Haque Bijoy and Tillakaratne Dilshan; both of them lost their wickets at 28 runs.

However the innings of Dilshan was little bit longer than that of Bijoy; Dilshan played 22 balls and hit 2 fours and 2 sixes meanwhile Bijoy played 18 balls and delivered equal number of fours and sixes.

One down batsman Yasir Ali showed some spark at the beginning of the competition for Chittagong Vikings but failed thoroughly in the later stage. Today he scored 11 runs in 11 balls with one six to show.

Umar Akmal stood for his 25 runs in 30 balls; he hit 1 four and 1 six before being the first victim of Mohammad Sami.

The run rate was always low in the Chittagong Vikings innings. Although they had three more wickets in hand, Vikings could not produce any healthier run rate than 6 in an over and eventually ended up at 135 in their allotted 20 overs.

Mohammad Sami, Kevon Cooper took 2 wickets each for Barisal Bulls while Al – Amin Hossain, Sohag Gazi and Mahmudullah Riyad picked up 1 wicket each.

Brief Score:

Chittagong Vikings 135/7

Anamul Haque Bijoy 28, Tillakaratne Dilshan 28

Mohammad Sami 2/32, Kevon Cooper 2/24

Barisal Bulls 141/2 (15 overs)

Chirs Gayle 92*, Mahmudullah Riyad 18*

Taskin Ahmed 1/23

Result: Barisal Bulls won by 8 wickets.

Man of the Match: Chris Gayle

Toss: Barisal Bulls.

Chittagong Vikings openers Tamim Iqbal and Tillakaratne Dilshan had complete ascendancy over Sylhet Super Stars as the pair chased the scratchy target of 140 with ease and ensured a pleasant victory.

Vikings’ captain Tamim Iqbal won the toss and elected to field. His decision paid off as Sylhet Super Stars were knocked on the floor by Chittagong bowlers. Inside four overs, they were 22/4 with all their top-order batsmen back in the pavilion. The four early dismissals included two run outs which were of Munaweera (in the first over) and Ravi Bopara (in the fourth over).

But, Sylhet Super Stars found a savior in “Boom Boom” Afridi as he took things in hands and anchored the innings. He played really well and it was because of his match saving knock that Sylhet managed to reach a decent total. He was involved in two important partnerships. The first one was a small fifth wicket partnership of 24 run for the fifth wicket with Mominul Haque. He then teamed up with his countryman Sohail Tanvir (17 runs from 16 balls) and added 60 valuable runs to the Sylhet scorecard.

Afridi was well set and posed a danger for the Vikings side as the match had reached the 17th over now. But, he was sent back to the pavilion before he could give the final blows to Chittagong.  Mohd. Amir bowled a slightly short of length delivery which managed to outfox Afridi with its movement and knocked his off stumps. He played a vital innings of 62 runs from 41 balls. His dismissal had its effects as the last three overs after Afridi’s departure yielded only 19 runs. Sylhet ended at a satisfactory target of 140 runs in front of Chittagong Vikings.

It was a relatively easy target to chase for the Vikings. Both Vikings opener came out to bat and gave no chance what so ever to the Sylhet bowlers.

Tamim Iqbal and Dilshan’s intentions looked very clear and were successful in dictating terms over a bowling attack that didn’t have enough to force them to walk back. Iqbal started the second innings with three boundaries off Mohammad Shahid’s first over. Dilshan also batted in his natural touch. Both slowed down a bit in the middle overs when the runs required to win had shrunk. However, there was a steady flow of singles and doubles. The match reached its obvious conclusion after Dilshan reverse swept Abdur Razzak for a boundary for the winning runs.

Sylhet Super Stars struggled from the ball one of the game. Shahid Afridi saved their face from a most likely humiliation with his match-saving innings. The chase was quite easy and both openers enjoyed batting over all the seven wicket-less bowlers who were tried by skipper Mushfiqur Rahim.

The result of the match, however, will not have any impact on the point table as both the teams are currently ranked at the bottom.

Brief Scores:

Sylhet Super Stars – 139/9 in 20 overs (Shahid Afridi 62; Shafiul Islam 2/37)

Chittagong Vikings – 140/0 in 16.1overs (T. Dilshan 67)

Man of the Match: T Dilshan (Chittagong Vikings)

SOURCE: CricTracker

Opener Soumya Sarkar fifty has sealed win for Rangpur Riders against Chittagong Vikings  in the second phase of  the fifteenth match of BPL 3 at Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury stadium, Chittagong on Tuesday.

To chase a total of 112 runs, The Rangpur opener duo Soumya and Jahurul made a 100 run opening partnership for the team. Jahurul scored 47 runs with four fours and one six while Soumya made 58* which consist of eight fours and one six.

However, the Rangpur Riders won the match by nine wickets.

The Chittagong Vikings pacer Shafiul took one wicket for the franchise team.

In the first innings, Tamim was the top score with 36 runs while  his opening partner  Dishan made 18 runs with three fours. Kamran Akmal and Anamul contributed 12 and 14 runs individually for the franchise team. Naeem later contributed 16* runs to set a defend able target of 112.

Rangpur Riders Spinner Sunny and Shakib bagged two wickets each while oversea player Nabi and Perera took one wicket each for the franchise team. Sajib also picked up one wicket.

Earlier, Chittagong Vikings Captain Tamim Iqbal won the toss and has elected to bat first against Rangpur Riders.

 Rangpur Riders Team

Soumya Sarkar, Mohammad Mithun†, Jahurul Islam, Misbah-ul-Haq, NLTC Perera, Arafat Sunny, Saqlain Sajib, Muktar Ali, Shakib Al Hasan*, DJG Sammy, Mohammad Nabi, Al-Amin, Murad Khan, LMP Simmons, SMSM Senanayake, Abu Jayed, Abdullah Al Mamun, Wahab Riaz

Chittagong Vikings Team

Tamim Iqbal*, TM Dilshan, Kamran Akmal†, Anamul Haque, Naeem Islam, Ziaur Rahman, Mohammad Amir, Shafiul Islam, Asif Hasan, Taskin Ahmed, Saeed Ajmal, Asif Ahmed, CK Kapugedera, Enamul Haque jnr, Elias Sunny, BMAJ Mendis, Yasir Ali, E Chigumbura

Rangpur Riders moved to the top of the charts after they completed a sweeping victory over Chittagong Vikings by 9 wickets and 3 overs to spare.

111-7 was what Chittagong Vikings posted and they needed to bowl well in order to defend it. The Riders probably had other plans on it, and the openers Jahurul and Soumya put up the first 100-run opening stand of the Bangladesh Premier League 2015 and the highest partnership of 102 in this season to ensure a wonderful win over Chittagong. Chittagong has now lost 4 consecutive matches and has a single win in the six matches they played till now.

Tamim still leads the run scorers list, but his team now lies at the bottom of the points table and will need to win each of the matches they play from tomorrow to stay in the run. Soumya Sarkar brought up his first fifty of BPL 2015 and stayed not out at 58, plus flourished a sweep towards backward long leg for a four to finish off the match. Jahurul also scored a well-made 47, before perishing to Shafiul.

The Vikings’ bowlers found themselves struggling badly against the Riders openers, as they looked to play watchfully and not donate wickets this time around. They did well in this part, and won the match convincingly enough to move themselves up the points table.

Soumya Sarkar was adjudged the Player of the Match for his watchful innings of 58 runs that led the Riders to a good win after they finished the Dhaka phase with a bad loss.

Source: TigerCricket

The Vikings’ captain and icon Tamim Iqbal Khan is quite frustrated with the performances of his team, “We started well in the last match also, but afterwards it was the same old story. We are missing a lot of catches in the field in all these games” – said Tamim.

“I may be the captain but I cannot guide every delivery a bowler has to bowl” – Tamim reckoned. “We have star performers in our team but none of them has yet been able to show their temperament in the field. Everything turned out in a wrong way for us” – added the skipper.

But Tamim Iqbal expressed his satisfaction over his personal performance, “I am happy for what I am doing. We will try our best to win in the next matches. I think we have a very good bowling line up in this tournament but unfortunately it has not yet flourished.”

SOURCE: bdcricteam

Al – Amin Hossain struck in his first over taking the vital wicket of Tamim Iqbal, the skipper of Chittagong Vikings; Tamim scored 6 off 8 balls in his innings.

Sri Lanka’s inform batsman Tillakaratne Dilshan (19 off 12 balls, 4×4) failed today with the bat, lost his wicket in a spinning delivery from Taijul Islam.

Pakistan’s Kamran Akmal failed to open his account as he was stopped short of the crease by a direct throw from Cooper; it is the first match for Akmal for his team in this season’s BPL.

Naeem Islam was the highest scorer of the team with his 38 runs (40 balls, 4×3).

Chittagong Vikings’ lost wickets in regular intervals with no significant partnerships throughout the innings.

Mohammad Amir became the second top scorer of the team, he scored 20 runs 12 balls with two huge sixes.

Kevon Cooper became the success story for Barisal Bulls once again in this competition, he claimed 3 wickets for 28 runs in his stipulated 4 overs.

Brief Score:

Barisal Bulls 170/7

Mahmudullah Riyad 51

Mohammad Amir 2/20, Ziaur Rahman 2/24

Chittagong Vikings 137 all out (19.5 overs)

Naeem Islam 38

Kevon Cooper 3/28

Result: Barisal Bulls won by 33 runs.

Toss: Chittagong Vikings

Chittagong Vikings are desperate to return to winning ways as they face Barisal Bulls to resume the Bangladesh Premier League. After an eventful first week in Dhaka, the money-spinning league has shifted to Chittagong as a full-house has been confirmed by the authorities for the 2pm start at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury stadium.

The Vikings are the most balanced side but fate has deprived them on three occasions where they could have finished on top. With only one win from four matches, Vikings skipper Tamim said, “We lost a few close matches in the first round, we should have won those. However, that’s in the past now and we are looking for a win [today].”

Meanwhile, with two wins from three matches, Barisal are a confident side, but their nerves will be tested on a solid wicket. Rony Talukdar and Shahriar Nafees have been poor up front and the duo should look for runs under their belts in order to save their skin because come tomorrow, the West Indian Chris Gayle will be joining the Bulls.

Chittagong are more than capable of posting a huge total on a good track and to ensure that does not happen if they bat first, Al Amin Hossain and Kevon Cooper must be at their best once again.

Pakistan spinner Saeed Ajmal was included as a key spinner for Bangladesh Premier League Twenty20 franchise Chittagong Vikings. Having been overlooked by his nation in the last couple of series, Ajmal targeted consistent performances with the leather in Bangladesh with the 2016 ICC World T20 knocking at the door. 

The Vikings however, despite being one of the tournament favourites on pen and paper, have blown more cold than hot on their way to tasting defeats in three of their four matches. Ajmal seems to have followed a similar script to that of his team, scalping just two wickets from three matches.

The Vikings will now turn their attention to the second phase of the tournament, slated for Chittagong’s Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium.

And “doosra” specialist Ajmal believes the port city franchise will be able to avail maximum advantage as the home side with Chittagong playing four of their remaining six matches at their own backyard.

Below are the excerpts:

How much are you enjoying BPL season 2015?

The tournament has been exciting so far and I am enjoying it. It has been able to pull in a good number of crowd in the stadium and sometimes it feels that we are playing at home, to be honest with you. Chittagong Viking are getting immense support but the problem is we have lost a few matches. However, we have some matches left and it is very much possible for us to come back to the competition. I believe we have got a balanced team but we are going through a bad patch at the moment.

Chittagong are one of the best teams of the tournament, on pen and paper at least. Where do you think you guys have gone wrong? Despite posting 180-odd in a few matches, the Vikings were unable to defend their total.....

Fielding has been the main issue for us. We have dropped catches at crucial times and those missed chances cost us badly. The batting unit has been delivering and hope they will continue doing that. The bowling is being let down; it is like sometimes we are doing well in the beginning and sometimes in the end. We are waiting for the team to come up as a unit and the moment we achieve that, I am sure we will have a good time ahead and reach the [play-offs].

Being a bowler, how discouraging it is for you when you see someone drop a catch off own your bowling?

T20 is a fast game and a dropped catch is equal to a murder, to be honest. It is the bowler who is killed here. The bowler is the one on the receiving end in T20 and when his wicket is dropped, it is like a nightmare. The bowler is let down at such moments.

How does one recover after a dropped catch at a crucial time?

It is true that the one who lets go of the catch is your team mate and both the bowler and the fielder should be on the same page. The bowler should control his anger and understand that dropped catches are part of the game. One should not lose the focus from the next ball onwards.

Chittagong are fifth in the points table with just two points from four matches. With the second phase of the tournament starting from tomorrow, what are the team’s goals for the rest of the competition?

Every game is important for us right now. We have to win all the matches in Chittagong, if possible, to survive in the tournament. We are a balanced side; the only concern is our fielding. If we can win the first two matches here, our confidence will sky-high. 

Dhaka Dynamites registered their second win in the third edition of the Bangladesh Premier League Twenty20 when they thumped Chittagong Vikings by a comprehensive margin of six wickets at the Sher-e-Bangla National stadium yesterday.

The Vikings suffered their third defeat of the tournament after posting only 92/10 on the board as the Dynamites chased down their target with 17 balls to spare.

Youngster Shadman Islam, playing his maiden BPL match for Dhaka, top-scored with 45 off 47 balls, featuring six fours, while Saykat Ali, who also played his first game, scored 23 as the pair added 45 runs for the opening wicket to lay the foundation for an easy win.

Kumar Sangakkara’s Dhaka made three changes to the playing XI from their previous game and will no doubt be happy to register their second win while Chittagong will be desperate to return to winning ways sooner rather than later.

After scoring the highest 29 with the
bat, Naeem Islam was also handy with the ball and picked up three wickets for the bowling side.

Earlier, the Vikings never looked comfortable after electing to bat on a slow and low pitch which already started to help the bowlers at the home of cricket.

The Chittagong batsmen struggled as even the dependable and in-form Tamim Iqbal was dismissed for just one run. His opening partner Tillakaratne Dilshan scored 20 but failed to prolong his knock.

Tigers’ pace bowling sensation Mustafizur Rahman and right-arm off-spinner Nasir Hossain bagged three wickets each for the bowling side. 

The Dhaka Dynamites players formed a huddle on the ground as Chittagong Vikings openers came into bat after they won the toss and chose to bat first. Right from the start, the Vikings looked in trouble. They started off miserably. In the second over, opener Tamim Iqbal, who was struggling to get going, was dismissed caught behind by Abul Hasan after a failed attempt to play the flick on the leg side. Another wicket fell in the following over. Anamul Haque also could not deal with a Farhad Reza ball which kept low and was dismissed LBW. The other opener, Tillakaratne Dilshan (20 runs from 11 balls) was playing in full flow. But, before he could convert his start into a big score, left-arm spinner Mosharraf Hossain got him leg before.

There were no signs of recovery as wickets fell one after the other at regular intervals. Naeem Islam (29 from 38 balls) stood firm at one end, but no batsman provided him the required support. Eventually, the Chittagong innings was wrapped up, setting an easy target of 93 runs for the DD to chase. Bowling wise, Mustafizur Rahim (3/14) and Nasir Hossain (3/12) were the top performers for Dynamites.

DD began the chase comfortably without showing any hurry to overhaul the target. But, Vikings found a breakthrough when Shykat Ali was caught in the long-on region by Ziaur Rahman. Debutant Shadman Islam and Nasir Jamshed were playing well and stitched an important 33 runs partnership before Jamshed (12 runs from 21 balls) got out off the bowling of part-timer Naeem Islam. Nasir Hossain also could not support Shadman and got out cheaply.

Although the Dynamites lost Jamshed and Hossain in quick successions they had nothing to worry as their chase had almost neared its end. However, opener Shadman Islam (45 from 47 balls) could not carry his bat till the end after he got out when the Dynamites needed only two runs to win the match. He played a wrongly judged shot and was clean bowled by Naeem Islam.

Soon, in the next over, with just one run needed to win the match, Dynamites skipper Sangakkara elegantly pulled a short ball by Shafiul Islam for a four to seal a victory by 6 wickets. Naeem Islam, who top-scored for the Vikings, also emerged as their best bowler. He picked up impressive figures of 3/7 and was the only bright spot for Vikings today.

It was a really bad game for the Vikings. The batting was really poor and they had posted a total which was very little for their bowlers to defend. The Dynamites had nothing to worry when they had such a low target in front of them to win. They would be really happy with their team’s performance as they were in a really comfortable position throughout the game and went ahead to win the game.

Brief Scores:

Chittagong Vikings – 92 all out in 18.4 overs (Naeem Islam 29; Nasir Hossain 3/12)

Dhaka Dynamites – 96/4 in 17.1 overs (Shadman Islam 45; Naeem Islam 3/7)

Man of the Match: Shadman Islam (Dhaka Dynamites)

SOURCE: CricTracker

Jannatul Naym Pieal

Chittagong Vikings have suffered their second defeat in three matches so far in the third season of the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL). Despite posting a competitive total of 176 on the board, they were easily chased down by a Mashrafe inspired Comilla with 7 balls to left.

This is the second time in the tournament that Chittagong lost a match is spite of scoring over 170. In the first match they lost to Rangpur Riders after posting 188 runs.

However, though Chittagong coach Marvan Atapattu is quite disappointed with the result of today’s match, he believes nothing is end yet and they still have enough chance to make a comeback.

“Of course it’s disappointing. Our fielding hasn’t been up to the mark. To be honest, the quality of fielding was very bad. We dropped too many wickets. We have missed as many as three wickets. I think we have a lot to work on this. May be we will be having some extra practice sessions on it,” said Marvan.

Terming Twenty20 as a ‘batsman’s game’, he also added, “Actually this format of cricket belongs to the batsmen. Had we scored some 20 more runs, the result perhaps could have gone our way.”

Marvan also admits that even though they have a strong batting line up, their bowling attack is not doing that great, despite having the world class bowlers like Taskin Ahmed, Mohammed Amir, Shafiul Islam and Saeed Ajmal in the team.

“It’s not always possible that both your batting and bowling will be the best. It’s always difficult to find the best combination. But I must say, Amir and Ajmal are two fantastic bowlers. Local boys are also very talented,” added he.

SOURCE: bdcricteam

BPL 3 Match 5 Review: Comilla Victorians v Chittagong Vikings, Samuels-Mortaza star as Victorians register their first win: The Chittagong Vikings played their third consecutive match against Comilla Victorians who were looking to open their account in the competition. At the back of a win yesterday against the Sylhet Superstars, the Chittagong Vikings outfit was looking to continue their winning momentum. Winning the toss Mortaza, the Victorians’ skipper, decided to bowl first and the decision eventually turned out to be a good one. He had a brilliant game picking up a wicket but more importantly played the captain’s knock with the bat. His partnership with Marlon Samuels helped his team register its first victory handing out a 7-wicket drubbing to the Vikings.

The power-play overs can be huge and Victorians cashed on it as Dilshan struck 3 back-to-back boundaries of Mahmudul Hasan in the first over of the innings. All the 3 shots were beautifully hit through the covers. Santokie bowled a tight second over however the skipper spoiled the good work conceding 3 fours in the next over. Dilshan was looking in ominous mood and raced to 21 off 7 balls. By the end of 6 overs, the Vikings were on 53 with the Sri Lankan going strong on 34 off 18 in the company of his captain who was on 15 off 16 and looking to give him as much of the strike as possible.

Ashar Zaidi provided the breakthrough when Dilshan top-edged an attempted switch hit to point. Well set on 36 off 21 and being the senior batsman in the team, the opener unnecessarily threw hit wicket. Zaidi picked up his second wicket, that of Tamim on 33 off 31 balls when he mistimed one to long off. Mortaza cleaned up Kapugedera bowling a slower one flummoxing the Sri Lankan who tried to swing it over midwicket. Yasir Ali and Anamul Haque took the score to 123 from 15.4 overs before Ali was stumped being beaten by a leg-cuter from Sunil Narine. Ziaur Rahman smashed Abu Hider for 26 runs; striking 3 huge sixes in the penultimate over he took his team to 176/4 at the end of the innings playing a brilliant cameo of 39* from 16 balls. Haque scored 39* off 30 balls as the Vikings out on a fighting total.

In reply, the Victorians got off to a horrible start. Litton Das was lucky to have survived an inside edge off the first ball of the innings however Imrul Kayes didn’t have any such luck on the first ball he faced. Amir generated a bit of movement and Kayes, early in his shot tried to flick it and ended up giving a simple catch to mid-on. Amir picked up his second wicket when Das was caught at midwicket mistiming a pull off a short ball. Shuvagata Hom smashed Taskin over in the next over for 3 fours and belted Shafiul Islam for a four and 2 sixes in the fourth and fifth overs respectively.

Islam had his revenge when he bowled a slower one which Hom tried to swing but couldn’t clear the point fielder. Dilshan running backward took a blinder and put his team in a strong position. Hom scored 30 off 16 balls and gave the innings the impetus it needed, however, it has to be continued and in walked the captain Mortaza looking to do exactly that. He and Samuels rotated the strike however also kept producing the big hits consistently. At least one four or six was hit in every over until the 15th over in which Mortaza was dropped at long-off. He made full use of the life smashing Taskin for 2 fours in the next over.

Samuels also looked in fine touch and hit some lusty blows. He got a life in the 18th over trying to go for a pull shot which he couldn’t connect, but the fielder at deep midwicket dropped it. The West Indian hit the next ball for four and had smashed a six which brought up his fifty, and a four of the first 2 balls in the same over to bring down the equation to 12 off 12. Amir bowled this over and a thick edge off the second ball for a four by Samuels almost sealed the deal for the Victorians. Mortaza brought up his half-century off just 30 balls and finished the match with a four squeezing one past backward point.

Brief Scores:

Chittagong Vikings – 176/4 in 20 overs (Ziaur Rahman 39*; Ashar Zaidi 2/29)

Comilla Victorians – 177/3 in 18.5 overs (Marlon Samuels 69*, Mashrafe Mortaza 56*; Mohammad Amir 2/27)

SOURCE: CricTracker

BPL 3 Match 3 Review: Sylhet Super Stars v Chittagong Vikings, Vikings off the mark in another tense finish: The Chittagong Vikings got a much-needed win however not before some drama in a closely contested match which witnessed yet another thrilling finish. Batting first the Vikings posted 180/5 and won the encounter by 1 runs with their bowlers managing to keep calm in pressure situations. The Super Stars were always in the run chase, however, could not get past the line. The start of the match was delayed for more than an hour, after the absence of the Super Stars’ skipper Mushfiqur Rahim for the toss.

Joshua Cobb and Ravi Bopara were the two players who did not have NOC’s, so they were not included in the Sylhet team sheets at the time of the toss which finally took place. But it is believed that by the time play was set to begin, BCB received those NOCs and so Sylhet decided to play them. Tamim Iqbal, he Vikings skipper protests thereafter stemmed from the fact that Cobb and Bopara were not in the original team sheets given to him at the toss. These two were ultimately left out of the Sylhet team and thus they fielded only 2 overseas players in the game. Rahim won the toss and decided to field first.

The Vikings got an early setback when Dilshan was dismissed for a duck in the second over by Subashis Roy, he mistimed a pull shot and got caught. Tamim Iqbal was watchful early on however opened up in smashing Munaweera for 4 fours in the fifth over. He continued playing aggressively and found an able partner in Yasir Ali who was making his T20 debut. He brought up his 50 off just 33 balls in the 9th over of the innings. He hammered Ajantha Mendis for a four and six in the same over and followed it up with a couple of sixes in the tenth over bowled by Nazmul Islam. He was finally dismissed by Mendis in the 13th over after a superb knock of 69 from just 45 balls. Trying to go for a drive he didn’t reach the pitch of the ball and gave an easy catch to short third-man.

Yasir had faced 28 balls and scored only 14 runs and decided to improve his strike rate after the wicket of his captain. He smashed Mendis for a four and six in the same over and made his intentions clear. Anamul Haque went for 3 and was dismissed by Munaweera in the next over. Jeevan Mendis came in and spanked Islam for 2 consecutive sixes in the 16th over. He went for a 20 off 13 balls after being caught by Rahim off Mohammad Shahid’s slower ball. A couple of sixes in the next over took Yasir Ali past 50. He was dismissed off the final ball of the innings being run out going for the second run. A well made 63 off 52 balls including 4 sixes ensured the Vikings posted a challenging total of 180/5. Ziaur Rehman remained unbeaten on 15 off just 7 balls including 1 four and 1 six.

Mohammad Amir conceded a four off the first ball of the Super Stars’ innings, however, bowled 5 tight balls conceding just 5 off the over. Munaweera had struck the first boundary of the innings and was up against Dilshan who was to bowl the second over. 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 is what the over yielded much to the delight of a big crowd at Mirpur. He kept hitting the ball crisply and the Super Stars were sitting pretty at 54/0 from the first 5 overs. He brought up his half-century in the next over with a four and six off Saeed Ajmal before Junaid Siddique, who had faced 13 balls, was dismissed for 5 in the 7th over by Shafiul Islam.

Ajmal took 2 wickets in his next over and put the pressure back on the opposition. The first to go was Munaweera, after a blistering knock of 64 off 30 balls which included 13 fours and 1 six, followed by Mominul Haque for 2 off 5. The Sri Lankan was caught at mid-wicket while Haque couldn’t execute a reverse sweep and was caught plumb in front. Rahim, known to execute his skills under pressure, steadied things and kept rotating the strike to good effect. Nazrul Hasan hit a six and 2 boundaries in the 13th over and by the end of it the Super Stars needed 59 off 42 balls.

Hasan was dismissed LBW by Shafiul for a well made 32 off 20. Milon was the next to go for 9 becoming Shafiul’s 3rd wicket. A spell of 3/25 from 4 overs was remarkable under the circumstances. With 26 needed from 18 and Rahim on 32 off 24, the match seemed to be in control for the Super Starts, however, Amir bowled a brilliant 18th over which also witnessed a run-out, that of Mohammad Shahid; Amir conceded just 5 runs in this over.

Rahim hit a full toss from Taskin out of the park and brought the equation down to 9 off the last over. Trying to scoop the ball to fine-leg he made a mistake of taking a single leaving Mendis with too much to do. A bye on the 4th ball brought the skipper back on strike and hit a splendid 4 off the penultimate ball through covers to ensure a last ball finish. Amir held his nerve and bowled a fuller one on the off side which Rahim could only guide to the covers managing just a single thereby handing the Vikings a 1 run victory. He remained unbeaten on 50 off 34 balls. Shafiul Islam was rightly awarded the player of the match for his brilliant spell.

Brief Scores:

Chittagong Vikings – 180/5 (Tamim Iqbal 69; Subashis Roy 1/22)

Sylhet Super Stars – 179/6 (Munaweera 64; Shafiul Islam 3/25)

SOURCE: Cric Tracker

Mohammad Amir and Saeed Ajmal, two Pakistani stars who are out of international cricket for different reasons, were the stars for Chittagong Vikings in a thrilling 1-run victory against the Sylhet Super Stars in the third match of Bangladesh Premier League 2015.

There was a huge controversy prior to the match, as the Vikings refused to take the field for a while because the Superstars playing eleven had been changed after the toss. The match started one hour late, and Ravi Bopara and Josh Cobb were eventually not allowed to play for the Superstars because their clearance certificates were produced too late.

Vikings captain Tamim Iqbal, perhaps charged with the anger with which he protested the late inclusions of the two English players, blitzed his way to a 45-ball 69. Tillakaratne Dilshan was dismissed for a golden duck, but the worst part of the day was yet to come for the Sri Lanka all-rounder.

Tamim found an able partner in Yasir Ali, who also gave a late charge to finish with a 52-ball 63. The Vikings had set the Superstars a target of 181.

In reply, Dilshan Munaweera took the attack to the Vikings bowlers from ball one, dispatching Dilshan for six consecutive boundaries in the second over of the match – to give the chase a definite direction in the Superstars’ favour.

38-year-old Saeed Ajmal, who has been frozen out of international cricket, picked up two wickets in the 8th over, but the initial charge given by Munaweera meant that the batsmen to come only had to carry on the good work.

Captain Mushfiqur Rahim entered the fray, but soon found he was losing his partners with alarming frequency to unheralded Bangladeshi fast bowler Shafiul Islam, who finished with figures of 3/25 in his four overs.

After a brief duel between Mushfiqur and the Vikings bowlers, the equation came down to whether Amir could defend 9 runs in the last over of the match – the second time in two days that the Chittagong team found themselves in a pressure situation in the last over of a high scoring thriller.

With 7 runs needed off the last two balls, Mushfiqur hit a boundary through the covers but could only manage a single off the last ball – handing a 1-run victory to the Vikings.

Brief Scores:

Chittagong Vikings 180/5 (Tamim Iqbal 69, Yasir Ali 63; Md Shahid 1/27, Ajantha Mendis 1/27)

Sylhet Super Stars 179/6 (Dilshan Munaweera 64, Mushfiqur Rahim 50; Saeed Ajmal 2/35, Md Amir 0/19)

SOURCE: SportsKeeda

Following the end of Chittagong Vikings’ BPL game against Sylhet Superstars, Bangladesh opener Tamim Iqbal launched a scathing attack against a ‘franchisee official’ whom he accused of insulting his parents prior to the game.

There was plenty of drama prior to the start of the BPL’s day fixture. The match was delayed because the foreign players that Sylhet wanted to include in the game did not have no-objection certificates from their home-boards.

As a result, the Bangladesh Premier League’s technical committee decided to bend the rules a bit and allowed Sylhet to play the match with two foreign players.

As per the rules of the BPL a team has to field four foreign players in every match.

However, as per the playing conditions, the BPL’s technical committee has the right ‘edit or delete’ a rule if it feels necessary. And the technical committee later said that they changed the rule in order to prevent a walkover which could ‘tarnish the image’ of the competition.

After the ruling, the team lists were exchanged by the two captains and the toss took place at 1:55 pm.

However, when the match began, Sylhet in a surprising move fielded four foreign players including the men in question—Joshua Cobb and Ravi Bopara.

As a result, Tamim protested and went off the field. What ensued next was a nearly hour-long discussion between the players, franchisee officials and members of the BPL’s technical committee.

Tamim was seen talking a senior Sylhet Superstars official near the grandstand that had quite a few spectators in. To everyone’s surprise, minutes later the left-hander seemingly lost his cool and briskly walked back to the dressing room.

According to Tamim, the ‘particular individual’ in question was trying to convince him to allow Sylhet to play with all the four foreign players.

According to the playing conditions, a team can only be changed after toss if the opposing captain gives his permission.

The national opener seemed disgusted at the some of the remarks that were reportedly made against him.

“The one thing I want to say is that people need to respect national cricketers. People have money but that doesn’t mean they will treat a national cricketer like a beggar. People need to start respecting us,” Tamim told reporters in the post-match press conference later in the evening.

“We are here to play cricket, I haven’t come here to hear insults about my parents or my family. And I was so nice to that individual, I even called him sir. He asked me to stand up and talk to him and I did that.

“Then he said a really bad thing about my family, which was very insulting.

These franchisees may have a lot of money, but there is a 1000 times more money in the IPL. I might not have played in the IPL but I was in the squad. I know how they treat players,” he added.

Tamim refused to name the individual during the press conference but said, “ I think you all know what I am talking about.”

The match which, Sylhet eventually played with two foreign players began at 3:10 pm, one hour and ten minutes after the scheduled start.

BPL technical committee convener, Jalal Yunus admitted that Sylhet had committed a ‘mistake’ when they decided to change the team line-up after the toss and include four foreign players in the side. 

When contacted, Sylhet Super Stars owner Azimul Haque denied the allegation, and said nobody insulted Tamim Iqbal today.

A superb knock by the icon of the Super Stars Mushfiqur Rahim has not been able to save his team being defeated by the Vikings in the thrilling third match of the Bangladesh Premier League.

chasing the winning margin of 180 runs, Sylhet Super Stars failed to take 3 runs in the ultimate ball of the innings and thus suffered a single run defeat in their first match of the season at the Sher – E – Bangla National Stadium today.

Skipper Mushfiqur Rahim hold one end for the Super Stars for more than an hour and became unbeaten at 50 (34 balls, 4×3, 6×2).

Sylhet Super Stars started their innings blazingly – the opening pair between Dilshan Munaweera and Junaid Siddique Imrose collected 66 runs in less than 7 over’s.

Munaweera struck 13 fours and a six to build up his 64 run innings in just 30 balls before Pakistan super performer Saeed Ajmal hit back gleefully to bring the Vikings back in the game.

Ajmal’s two wickets in 2 over’s put barrier in the run flow of the Super Stars; after dislodging Munaweera, Ajmal trapped one down Mominul Haque (2 in 5 balls) plumb in front in the 8th over of the match.

In the fourth wicket partnership, Nurul Hasan and Mushfiqur Rahim scored 33 runs. In the 3rd ball of the 15th over, Nurul Hasan became the second victim of Shafiul Islam.

The lanky pacer grabbed his third wicket in the 17th over through uprooting the stumps of Nazmul Hossain Milon (9 off 8 balls).

Skipper Tamim Iqbal’s athletic throw produced a run out (Mohammad Shahid) in the 18th over the match seemed to revive the hopes of the Vikings.

Brief score:
Chittagong Vikings 180/5
Tamim Iqbal Khan 69, Yasir Ali 63
Sylhet Super Stars 179/7

Dilshan Munaweera 64, Mushfiqur Rahim 50*
Shafiul Islam 3/25
Result: Chittagong Vikings won by 1 run.
Toss: Sylhet Super Stars

SOURCE: bdcricteam