Chittagong destroy Sylhet by 10 wickets

Chittagong Vikings annihilated Sylhet Super Stars by 10 wickets and kept alive their chances of making it to the knock-out phase of this year’s BPL.

Both the opening batters of Chittagong scored 67 runs and took their team home with 23 balls left in the bag.

Tamim faced 51 balls and struck eight fours in his undefeated knock. Dilshan was slightly more aggressive, and played 46 balls with six fours and three sixes punctuating his innings,

None of the Sylhet bowlers were able to make an impression in this match, and nearly all of them went for plenty.

Chittagong Vikings opener and captain Tamim Iqbal showed his intent from the first ball when he went down the track to Mohammad Shahid and smashed a boundary.

His partner Dilshan played second fiddle, and only opened up his shoulders once the spinners came into play.

Chittagong reached 57 after only five overs and were sitting pretty at the driver’s seat. 

Earlier, Sylhet Super Stars reached 139 against Chittagong Vikings thanks mainly to Shahid Afridi’s sensible knock under tremendous pressure.

Chittagong had their nose in front for most the match, as their bowlers rose to the occasion and took wickets in a cluster early.

Shafiul took two while Amir, Bilawal, Taskin and Asif captured a wicket each. 

Mohammad Amir came back late in the innings and pegged back Afridi’s off-stump with a peach of a delivery.

The ball pitched on leg, squared the batsman, bounced more than anticipated and crashed into off. Afridi looked completely clueless!

Afridi’s knock of 62 from 41 rescued Sylhet from the early collapse, and he entertained the Super Stars fans with five four and four sixes during his stay at the crease.

Sohail Tanvir was dismissed by Shafiul in the 17 th over to pull things back for Chittagong. The Pakistani bowler scored 17 useful runs with a four and a six to his name.

From a precarious 63 for 6 in the 11th over, Shahid Afridi and Sohail Tanvir repaired Sylhet’s fledging innings with a 60-run stand.

Sylhet’s hopes of a challenging total were kept alive solely by Afridi, who made the best of three dropped chances to bludgeon his way to a timely fifty.

Afridi’s fifty came in 33 balls with four boundaries and three massive sixes.

Shafiul Islam got the wicket of Mominul Haque in the seventh over and Sylhet by now had lost half their side and all at sea against Chittagong.

Mominul scored nine runs and his departure sent the cat among the pigeons as far as Sylhet is concerned.

In the same over that saw the back of Mushy, Ravi Bopara made a fatal error during taking a run and was dismissed for his lapse of concentration.

Bopara contributed 10 runs from 9 balls with two fours to his name.

Chittagong Vikings inflicted early blows to Sylhet Super Stars’ batting line-up by sending back Munaweera, Nurul and Mushfiqur early in the 18th match of BPL-2015 at ZAC stadium.

Sylhet were looking down the barrel after Taskin Ahmed removed their captain Mushfiqur Rahim for duck with his first ball in the match. Mushy was beaten by pace and trapped in front.

Bilawal Bhatti made further inroads into Sylhet’s batting line-up when he sent back Nurul Hasan with the last ball of his first over.

Sylhet Super Stars were rocked early when they lost their in-form opener Munaweera to a needless run-out in the first over against Chittagong Vikings.

Munaweera’s partner Nurul Hasan didn’t respond to the call and left the Sri Lankan high and dry. Sylhet opener scored four runs.

Chittagong’s captain Tamim Iqbal had earlier won the toss and decided to bowl against Mushfiqur Rahim’s Sylhet.

Sylhet and Chittagong are two teams locked on two points at the bottom of the table, and need to win the rest of their matches to qualify for the knock-out round.

Chittagong Vikings

Tamim Iqbal (Captain), TM Dilshan, Anamul Haque, Umar Akmal (Wicketkeeper), Ziaur Rahman, Mohammad Amir, Shafiul Islam, Taskin Ahmed, Asif Hasan, Yasir Ali and  Bilawal Bhatti

Sylhet Super Stars

RS Bopara, Mushfiqur Rahim (Captain, Wicketkeeper), Mominul Haque, Nazmul Hossain Milon, Rubel Hossain, Mohammad Shahid, Abdur Razzak, Shahid Afridi, Sohail Tanvir, EMDY Munaweera and Nurul Hasan