Published on 12:00 AM, February 09, 2019

MOMENTS

Tamim Iqbal backed up his sensational century by completing a fabulous running catch, one of two vital dismissals he took part in, to send Shakib Al Hasan packing during Comilla Victorians' 17-run win over Dhaka Dynamites in the BPL final at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur on February 8. Photo: Firoz Ahmed

THE LEWIS LOSS

Along with Tamim Iqbal, Evin Lewis is the most important batsman in the Comilla Victorians lineup, and it can be assumed that he was given the permission to hazard a review if he felt that there was a chance that he could bat on. In the second over of yesterday's BPL final against Dhaka Dynamites, pacer Rubel Hossain beat Lewis's bat with a straight delivery that thudded into the left-hander's front foot, just below the knee roll. The umpire upheld the appeal and Lewis asked for the review with such immediacy that it seemed he must have got an inside edge. He did not, and after an unnecessarily long examination by the TV umpire, was given his walking orders. Comilla lost their only review… more on that a bit later.

TAMIM VS SHAKIB… NO CONTEST

The title match was especially enticing for Bangladeshi fans because at the end of a tournament that drew most of its hype from the presence of foreign stars like Chris Gayle, AB de Villiers, David Warner and Steven Smith, the final pitted two of Bangladesh's brightest stars against each other. And by the end of the battle between Dhaka skipper Shakib Al Hasan and Comilla's icon player Tamim Iqbal, the quality of cricket on view strongly suggested that as far as skills go, Bangladesh's best can mix it with the world's best.

To be fair, it was not really much of a contest as Shakib -- despite bringing all his nous and intelligence into play -- was for once bested decisively by Tamim, who became an untamed force of nature yesterday. Shakib's first over had the air of two heavyweight fighters feeling each other out, but Tamim asserted his dominance in the left-arm spinner's next over, swiping his national teammate to the leg side for two boundaries. In all, Tamim hit Shakib for three sixes and as many boundaries, reducing Bangladesh's best cricketer to an awestruck spectator, just like most of the capacity crowd.

To top it off, during Dhaka's chase of 200, it was Tamim who ran in from mid off and completed a catch at near full sprint to dismiss Shakib and signal the tide changing decisively in Comilla's favour. 

ANAMUL'S WOOD IN VAIN

Anamul Haque swiped across the line off the last ball of the 12th over bowled by Shakib, and the umpire wasted no time in giving him out leg-before after the ball hit pad. Like Lewis, Anamul immediately signalled for a review, but was told immediately by Shakib that the right-hander was fresh out of luck because Lewis had used up the only review. To put the icing on the irony cake, replays showed that Anamul got a healthy edge, but he could only smile about it in the dressing room.

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