Bleak returns for Mash & Tamim
All eyes were trained on Dhaka Platoon’s first Bangabandhu Bangladesh Premier League (BBPL) match against Rajshahi Royals yesterday as two of the biggest national stars in Mashrafe Bin Mortaza and Tamim Iqbal were returning to action after lengthy breaks.
Bangladesh ODI skipper Mashrafe last played in a competitive fixture during Bangladesh’s last World Cup game at Lord’s against Pakistan on July 5. Bangladesh have been going through upheaval since the World Cup and as there are no ODIs between the tour of Sri Lanka that followed the World Cup and May next year, Mashrafe has been absent.
The inspirational captain, who has won the BPL a record number of times, returned to action after exactly 159 days. Tamim had led Bangladesh in his absence during that ODI tour of Sri Lanka but the left-hander had then opted out of the tri-nation T20I series at home, the lone Test against Afghanistan and the tour of India. Although he had played in the National Cricket League (NCL) in October, the return of the BPL is a bigger stage, and there was heightened expectation as the star opener hit a brilliant ton in last edition’s final to hand Comilla Victorians the title.
Tamim’s form had been an issue during the World Cup and the indifferent run continued in the Sri Lanka series and, despite the downtime, there was no improvement. Having been sent in to bat by Rajshahi Royals, Tamim was the first Platoon wicket to fall, going for a full-blooded drive but hitting it straight to the man at cover off the bowling of Abu Jayed. While Anamul Haque held one end up with his 33-ball 38, wickets fell at regular intervals from the other end, with two run-outs also adding to Dhaka’s misery. Mashrafe contributed with a 10-ball 18 as Dhaka managed a below-par score of 134 for nine.
Mashrafe, who admitted post-match that he carried a few ‘niggles here and there’, often caused the batsman to be careful but remained wicketless. Liton Das and Hazratullah Zazai provided a solid start and although Liton fell after a 27-ball 39, Zazai’s unbeaten 56 and Shoaib Malik’s steady 34-ball 32 handed Andre Russell’s Rajshahi an easy nine-wicket win.
“We have players coming in from different places. But it can’t be an excuse. It’s a long tournament; there is a lot of time. We made a few mistakes today, quite a few run-outs happened. We need to fix these problems,” Mashrafe said.
Regarding Tamim’s slump, he said: “I don’t think there is any real concern regarding Tamim. Even last time he went through the tournament somewhat like this but the winning knock for the trophy came from him.”
Both him and Tamim now have something to improve upon following their bleak return.
SCORES IN BRIEF
DHAKA PLATOON: 134 for 9 in 20 overs (Anamul 38, Jaker 21, Riaz 19, Mashrafe 18 not out; Jayed 2-43)
RAJSHAHI ROYALS: 136 for 1 in 18.2 overs (Zazai 56 not out, Liton 39, Malik 36 not out; Mahedi 1-23)
Result: Rajshahi Royals won by 9 wickets.
Player-of-the-match: Ravi Bopara.
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