Caribbean flair gives Dhaka final berth

It was a day for Calypso beats at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur yesterday as first Darren Sammy and Kesrick Williams combined to keep Rajshahi Kings alive by winning the Bangladesh Premier League Eliminator against Chittagong Vikings, before Dhaka Dynamites rode on stellar all-round shows from Andre Russell and Dwayne Bravo to book a place in Friday's final with a 54-run drubbing of Khulna Titans.

Khulna and Rajshahi will now face off in the second qualifier at 5:45pm today to challenge Dhaka in the final.

In the Qualifier 1 yesterday evening, Khulna surrendered abjectly to be 86 all out in just 16.2 overs in reply to Dhaka's total of 140 for eight in the first innings. They started well enough, reaching 34 without loss in five overs, but a clever delivery by Dhaka skipper Shakib Al Hasan when he saw Andre Fletcher advancing down the pitch had the West Indian smartly stumped down the leg side by Kumar Sangakkara. Flether wit a 22-ball 28 was the highest scorer for Khulna, with only Ariful Haque joining him with a double-digit score of 14.

Russell then had Mahmudullah Riyad caught and followed it up by trapping Hasanuzzaman leg-before -- questionably upheld by the umpire -- in the same over, the seventh of the innings, to have Khulna struggling at 40 for three. 

Another bit of bad luck followed for Khulna as Benny Howell was adjudged leg-before off Sunzamul Islam when the ball had clearly taken the inside edge of the bat. Abdul Mazid was then caught and bowled by Mosaddek Hossain and Nicholas Pooran caught by Bravo off Abu Jayed to leave the Titans at 68 for six in the 13th over, with the only real hope being a semblance of respectability.

Even that hope was crushed when Khulna lost their last four wickets for just 18 runs as Russell dismissed Ariful to finish with three for 16 in four overs and Bravo dispatched Shuvagata Hom, Mosharraf Hossain and Junaid Khan to end with three for 10.

Earlier, after being asked to bat, Andre Russell hit a whirlwind 46 to rescue Dhaka from the depths of being 65 for five in 10.4 overs to a competitive 140 for eight.

Few could have predicted Dhaka's dire straits at the halfway stage of their innings after the way they began, with opener Mehedi Maruf hitting the fourth ball of the match for a six over square leg before his partner Evin Lewis rounded off the over from Mahmudullah with boundary to point.

Off the first ball of the next over however, things took a drastic turn as Maruf edged a wide Junaid Khan delivery to Nicholas Pooran behind the stumps. Junaid was again in business when he had Kumar Sangakkara caught at long in the fourth over for nine, before making it two in the over by getting Lewis caught behind two balls later for 11.

Skipper Shakib and Nasir Hossain then added 28 runs for the fourth wicket before Nasir played a nothing shot to hole out to long off off the bowling of Andre Fletcher in the ninth over for 13. Fletcher's next over saw the departure of Shakib for 18 when he hit one straight back at the bowler to leave his team teetering at 65 for five.

Russell then joined Mosaddek Hossain, and immediately stamped his authority on the match with two fours on either side of the ground with a six over long on in between in the 13th over bowled by Fletcher.

In the next over however, Mosaddek sacrificed his wicket for eight after a mix-up saw both Russell and the young batsman going towards the same end. The run-out brought Dwayne Bravo to the crease and he merely allowed his fellow West Indian to go after the bowling. Russell punished Benny Howell for a four and a six in the 15th over before repeating the dose against Junaid in the 18th. Bravo joined in the fray with a six off Howell in the next over, but that over also saw the departure of Russell, caught at deep midwicket. His 25-ball innings featured four boundaries and three sixes and carried the team to 138 for six with one over to go.

That over however produced just two runs as Junaid capped off an excellent outing by bowling Alauddin Babu to finish with figures of four for 24.