Sports Correspondent: An all-round performance from skipper Nasir Hossain got Dhaka Dominators over the line against Khulna Tigers by six wickets in a low-scoring match in the ninth Bangladesh Premier League at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Dhaka on Saturday.
Skipper Nasir Hossain played a captain’s knock, an unbeaten run-a-ball 36, while Dilshan Munaweera and Soumya Sarkar made small but meaningful contributions of 22 and 16 respectively to guide Dhaka to 117-4 in 19.1 overs.
Nasir also did well with the ball in hand, taking 2-29 in his four overs.
Khulna bowlers did well to drag the match into the final over, after their batters managed to post just 113-8 after being asked to bat first.
Skipper Yasir Ali top scored for Khulna with 24 off 25 balls while Pakistani batter Azam Khan (18 off 12), local all-rounder Mohammad Saifuddin (19 off 28), Sabbir Rahman (11 not out off 11) and Pakistani pacer Wahab Riaz (10 off three) chipped in.
Dhaka pacer Al-Amin Hossain claimed 4-28.
Khulna’s innings got off the wrong foot, as they lost Sharjeel Khan (seven), Munim Shariar (four) and Tamim Iqbal (eight) inside the powerplay.
Azam tried to conjure up a counterattack, hitting three fours in his 12-ball stay, before Arafat rattled his stumps to reduce Khulna to 49-4.
Yasir and Saifuddin tried to build a base with a steady partnership. But both batters departed when their team needed them to accelerate.
Yasir hit Nasir for a six but got caught in the very next ball and Saifuddin lost his wicket to Al-Amin.
Wahab’s four and six in the last over against Al-Amin pushed Khulna’s total near 120.
Dhaka’s reply hit an early hiccup, when their Pakistani opener Ahmed Shehzad got hit in his elbow and had to leave the field retired hurt on four.
There was also some controversy surrounding an lbw appeal against Soumya Sarkar, when he was batting on five. On-field umpire Gazi Sohel gave him out, a decision Soumya reviewed.
There is no Decision Review System (DRS) in the group phase of BPL. Instead, there is Additional Decision Review System (ADRS) in place, a backdated technology which can assist the third umpire in reviewing the on-field umpire’s decision, but it’s nowhere near as conclusive as DRS.
After a look, the third umpire upheld the original decision, which Soumya once again protested. After that, the on-field umpire asked the third umpire to check again, and this time the decision got overturned, which infuriated Tamim, Yasir and other Khulna players.
Soumya could add only 11 more runs after all that, before he got caught behind against Wahab Riaz.
Dhaka lost two more wickets in quick succession and were reduced to 66-3 after 12 overs.
But then Nasir formed a 34-run stand with Usman Ghani (14) to take the Dhaka 14 runs away from the target.
Nasir hit a timely four against Saifuddin in the 18th over and another one against Wahab in the 19th over to make the scores level before the final over.
Nasir then hit Nahidul Islam for a four down the ground to take Dhaka to winning shores.
