Champion team Dhaka Gladiators |
Imran Nazir starred for the Gladiators with a sparkling 75 and was out with only five runs from victory having hit six sixes and an equal number of fours. He flicked a delivery off Alauddin Babu to Ahmed Shehzad at mid'wicket.
Anamul Haque was unbeaten on 49 at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur. Both have been dropped and also survived close run-out calls.
Nazimuddin (13) was the only man out with a sliced drive trying to go inside out over cover but was caught by Alauddin Babu at cover point as Suhrawardy Shuvo strick with his first ball.
Earlier, captain Brad Hodge kept his cool as wickets tumbled around to take Barisal Burners to 140 for 7 in 20 overs.
Hodge led from the front with an unbeaten 70 off 57 balls. Hogde single handedly gave Barisal some hope in the final after Ahmed Shehzad, who was the star in the previous game, failed and none of the others hung in with the captain.
Farhad Hossain (11) got a thin edge while playing a square drive off a faster Shahid Afridi delivery and it was held superbly by wicket-keeper Dhiman Ghosh. Mominul Haque (11) was the man back to the hutches before him, trying to run a wide Naved-ul-Hasan delivery down with an open face, giving Dhiman an easy diving catch.
A clueless Mithun Ali (1) was perished caught by Imran Nazir at deep mid-wicket, trying to slog-sweep Shahid Afridi. Phil Mustard went back before him for 5, trapped lbw by a Saeed Ajmal slider.
Ahmed Shehzad, fresh from Tuesday's 113 of 49 balls in the semifinal, failed to get the elevation and was out caught by Ajmal at mid-off trying to bludgeon an Afridi delivery. He gave his side a rollicking start for his 28 off 20 balls.
Shehzad was dropped on 15 by Dhiman when the opener top-edged the big hit, with Dhiman failing to even touch the ball.
In front of a sellout crowd, Gladiators captain Mashrafe Mortaza won the toss and decided to bowl first in the star-studded finale which is being beamed live by Channel 9. The average first innings total in the BPL is 162.
Barisal Burners reached final by a thumping eight-wicket win over Duronto Rajshahi in the first semi-final while Dhaka Gladiators scraped to the final edging out Khulna Royal Bengals by nine runs.
Each team won five matches out of ten in the league so far.
Dhaka have been dominant in the head-to-head clashes in the league phase, winning the first one on Feb 14 by 21 runs, despite a scorching 116 by Chris Gayle, his second century on the same pitch. The second victory on Feb 25 was more convincing, by five wickets.
Barisal Burners : Ahmed Shehzad, Brad Hodge(c), Phil Mustard(w), Mithun Ali, Mominul Haque, Suhrawadi Shuvo, Mohammad Nazmul Islam, Kabir Ali, Farhad Hossain, Alauddin Babu, Yasir Arafat
Dhaka Gladiators : Imran Nazir, Nazimuddin, Mohammad Ashraful, Azhar Mahmood, Shahid Afridi, Anamul Haque, Dhiman Ghosh(w), Elias Sunny, Naved-ul-Hasan, Saeed Ajmal, Mashrafe Mortaza(c)
No comments:
Post a Comment