BPL 2017, Match 32 Review: Comilla Victorians annihilate the table-toppers

The clash between the Comilla Victorians and Khulna Titans was expected to be a cracker, but as it turned out, the former were too good on the day. It was a clash between the two best sides in the League thus far and people expected it be a close contest. But the Titans had that rare bad day, which eventually let them down big time.

Their batting order collapsed quite amusingly, after putting in so many wonderful shows in the season. Beginning with Rilee Rossouw’s dismissal in the very first over of the match, the Titans had a horrid day dealing with the off-spinners taking the new ball. Mahedi Hasan and Shoaib Malik did a fantastic job in the first few overs and this didn’t help Mahmudullah’s side to get out of the trauma soon.

Adding to Shoaib Malik’s fireworks in the first 10 overs, Al-Amin Hossain, who was under the scanner a bit, fired in big time. Both these players chipped in with three wickets each and bowled extremely economically. This kept the Titans out of the game for a majority of the first innings and all the other bowlers chipped in with a wicket per-head.

The Victorians got bowled out for a paltry 111 in 19.2 overs and only one batsman registered a score of over 20. Ariful Haque’s 24 and short little cameos from Kyle Abbott and Shafiul Islam helped them breach the 100-run mark. This was never going to be a match-winning total and with the Victorians having the momentm, the second half was meant to be one-sided.

Tamim Iqbal notches a half-century

Much to the relief of all the Comilla fans, Tamim Iqbal scored a vital half-century. The skipper looked positive right from the outset and he stitched a crucial first wicket stand with Liton Das, to ensure the game was settled pretty much in the first six overs with the field restrictions in play. They got off to a ferocious start, scoring at over 9 an over till the seventh over.

The skipper was marching towards his half-century in a hurry and Liton Das played the second fiddle brilliantly. But the youngster was dismissed after scoring 21 off 20 balls, but most importantly, he added 64 for the first wicket. Both Tamim and number 3 batter Imrul Kayes slowed the innings down as there wasn’t any urgency towards getting to the target.

They had ample time to dance their way towards the target and eventually, that’s what they did. Tamim got to his fifty in the 10th over off the game, with a Tennis forehand down the ground for a boundary. It was such an important knock for him considering he didn’t register any decent totals after missing out the first leg at Sylhet due to an injury.

The duo added 48 runs for the second wicket as Comilla chased the total inside 14 overs. They got o the 112 mark in 13.5 overs, with Tamim Iqbal remaining unbeaten on 64 off 42 balls, which includes 12 boundaries. Imrul Kayes too remained not out on 22 and given they defeat the Dhaka Dynamites on Wednesday, they will take the top spot in the table with the other teams a good distance away from them.

Brief Scores

Khulna Titans: 111 all out in 19.2 overs (Ariful Haque 24; Shoaib Malik 3/14, Al-Amin Hossain 3/20)

Comilla Victorians: 112/1 in 13.5 overs (Tamim Iqbal 64*, Imrul Kayes 22*)

Man of the match: Shoaib Malik