Ten NCL Facts
1. Mohammad Rafique bowled four maiden overs in the tournament, from the six matches he's played. The 42-year-old left-arm spinner is also the most economical bowler, giving away a miserly 4.48 runs per over.
2. One of the three bowlers who share the top spot among the wicket-takers along with Rafique and Mashrafe Bin Mortaza is Mohammad Ashraful, the ace batsman. Ashraful took ten wickets with his leg spin but his high profile bat did hardy talk in the meet.
3. There wasn't much of a surprise for the highest six-hitter. Tamim Iqbal smashed nine sixes. The dashing left-hander also has the tournament's highest score, a 91 against Sultans of Sylhet.
4. The Sultans, one of the form teams in the group stages, scored the highest in a match, 182 against Rajshahi Rangers.
5. Little-known Shuvogoto Hom notched up the fastest fifty, off 23 balls, for Khulna against Sylhet.
6. Though a build-up tournament for the Tigers, lesser stars picked up more prizes than the national team players. Muktar Ali and Farid Uddin Masud might be unknown quantities but both picked up two man-of-the-match awards in the tournament.
7. Pakistan speedster Shoaib Akhtar is the biggest flop of the event. He took a single wicket giving away 95 runs in the three matches he played. It was quite expensive for Cyclones of Chittagong who have reportedly paid the crestfallen paceman 15,000 dollars.
8. But Australian Twenty20 specialist Aiden Blizzard was a hit, batting at an amazing strike rate of 170.11 although he failed to deliver in the final for Rajshahi.
9. While the domestic cricket has always seen the dominance of Pakistani cricketers, different nationalities thronged the NCL T20s. Khulna brought in South Africans Alviro Petersen and Ryan Bailey for the final while Rajshahi had Aiden Blizzard for the entire tournament. But Sri Lankans like Mahela Udawatte, Nuwan Zoysa and Indika De Saram were the most popular among the franchises. Pakistanis did come. But Shoaib, Imran Nazir and Khurram Manzoor failed to make any lasting impression.
10. This is the lowest scoring Twenty20 tournament since its inception in 2003. There were also little fireworks and it could be blamed on the pitches in Mirpur, which have been overused for the entire season.
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