The Dhaka Dominators have earned their first victory in the Bangladesh Premier League 2023 as they beat Khulna Tigers by six wickets on Saturday in the match held at Mirpur Sher-E-Bangla Stadium in the capital, reports UNB.
This match was also marred by absence of DRS, as this year's BPL has a trend to be criticized for its messy management.
Soumya Sarkar was given out in the last over of the powerplay in the first innings after Nasum Ahmed successfully hit his pads. But Soumya went for a review, and the field umpire called upon the third umpire for the decision. The giant screen installed in the field showed that Soumya was out, but, right after that, Soumya had a discussion with the umpire. Within a couple of minutes, the decision was overturned!
This caused Tamim Iqbal, the senior batter of Khulna, to speak with the umpire. It was clear that there was not a friendly conversation in the middle, but eventually, Soumya was deemed not out at that stage.
After the foggy weather cleared, the match started after a delay of half an hour. Dhaka won the toss and decided to bowl first.
The Khulna Tigers scored 113 runs for the loss of eight wickets in the allotted 20 overs. Yasir Ali was their top scorer with 24 runs off 25 balls. Mohammad Saifuddin also contributed 19 runs off 28 balls.
The Dhaka bowlers were well disciplined, with Al Amin Hossain leading the charge with four wickets for 28 runs. Nasir Hossain and Arafat Sunny also contributed taking two wickets each.
In reply, Dhaka Dominators reached the target of 114 runs with five balls to spare.
Opening batsman Dilshan Munaweera scored 22 runs off 18 balls, while Nasir, their captain, scored 36 off 36 balls. Soumya Sarkar chipped in with 16 off 13 balls. Mohammad Saifuddin took two wickets for Khulna, but it wasn’t enough to stop Dhaka from securing victory.
Bd-pratidin English/Lutful Hoque
