Nasir's Sixers defuse Dynamites

Nasir Hossain may not have a significant track record as a captain but one could hardly tell otherwise when he took up the job for Sylhet Sixers against defending champions Dhaka Dynamites in their Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) encounter  yesterday.

Backed up by the capacity crowd at the Sylhet International cricket stadium, which is hosting its first ever BPL fixtures, the home side were on top right from the word go.

From opening the innings with the ball to ending with figures of 2 for 21 from his four overs, where he picked up Mehedi Maruf in the first over to restrict the Dhaka's strong batting line-up on 136 for 7, it was a clinical performance from Nasir and his side throughout the game.

Sylhet cruised to the target in 16.5 overs following a magnificent 125 run first-wicket partnership from Upul Tharanga and Andre Fletcher.

Both openers made Dhaka's bowling unit look below par as Tharanga, apart from his run out scare when he was on 21, offered no opportunity to the holders.

The Sixers scored 51 runs in the first Powerplay but Fletcher was finally dismissed after scoring 63 off 51 balls, including five fours and three sixes, as he was caught at deep mid-wicket off an Adil Rashid delivery.

However, left-hander Tharanga finished the job while remaining unbeaten on a 48 ball 69 run knock which featured five fours and two sixes. More importantly though, the way he paced the innings was truly remarkable.

Earlier, when Nasir won the toss and elected to field, it was seen as a daunting task for any bowling side to be up against the likes of Lewis, Sangakkara, Shakib and Pollard but on the contrary his side made it look easy.

Pacers Abul Hasan and Liam Plunkett also played their parts as they made sure that the batters failed to try different approaches by utilising their accuracy and variations on a sporting track while picking up two wickets each for just 24 and 20 runs respectively.

On the other hand, high expectations combined with a lack of application could prove to be even costlier for Shakib's side despite having big names in their ranks.

None of the Dhaka batsmen were able to stretch their innings where Sangakkara's 32 runs off 28 balls was the only note worthy performance while Lewis and Shakib scored twenties.

Losing wickets at regular intervals held Dhaka back as they managed just 36 runs in the last five overs and were inevitably unable to post more than 170, which according to Shakib is a fighting total.

"We are proud to win our first game," Nasir said after the game before adding: "Our bowlers bowled well in the first six overs and continued that throughout the innings. Our game plan worked well."

This could be a good learning experience for Dhaka because they should now prepare their combinations more fully for the next game while Sylhet will be on alert when they take on Comilla Victorians today.