Dhaka thump lowly Comilla

Defending champions Comilla Victorians sank even lower in the fourth edition of the Bangladesh Premier League after they were utterly dominated by Dhaka Dynamites, who won yesterday's evening match by a whopping 33 runs at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur.

The Shakib Al Hasan-led Dhaka rode on a blistering innings of 60 from opener Mehedi Maruf to post 194 for five, the highest total of this season's BPL, but it was Mashrafe Bin Mortaza's Comilla's continued implosion that was the more telling event of the day. This was their fourth defeat in four matches this season. 

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Mashrafe (47 off 35 balls) provided the entertainment late in the match by hitting four massive sixes off the penultimate over by Shakib to help Comilla score 161 for nine, but the match was over as a contest when they were brought down to 74 for seven after 11 overs.

The day's afternoon match saw a closer affair between Barisal Bulls and Chittagong Vikings, with the former notching a last-over victory to win by seven wickets.

In the evening match, chasing a formidable total, Comilla looked like every bit the hapless team their position at the bottom of the seven-team table paints them as.

It started promisingly enough, with all the top four reaching double figures, but the signs of a rout were there as none of them passed the 19 scored by opener Imrul Kayes. It was his wicket that ended a 30-run opening stand when Nasir Hossain had him caught at mid-off in the fourth over. Fellow opener Jashimuddin followed in the next over, caught off Seekkuge Prasanna.

There was still hope with Ahmed Shehzad and the young Nazmul Hossain Shanto at the crease, but with the team score on 47 the former was smartly stumped by Kumar Sangakkara off the off-spin of Mosaddek Hossain. Comilla's fourth loss in four matches was all but confirmed when, in the ninth over, the left-handed Shanto chopped a Sunzamul Islam delivery onto his stumps to leave Comilla at 68 for four. 

Comilla lost three more wickets for the addition of six runs in the next two overs. Ryan ten Doeschate was bowled by a Prasanna skidder, Rashid Khan lofted Mohammad Shahid to long on and Al-Amin edged the same bowler to the keeper.

Earlier, Comilla chose to field and Dhaka's in-form batsman Mehedi Maruf started like a house on fire.

Maruf, who made a flying start to this edition by hitting an unbeaten 45-ball 75 against Barisal Bulls on November 8, started in much the same fashion. It was the Sri Lankan legend Sangakkara who got things going with two consecutive boundaries in the second over off Sohail Tanvir, but his younger partner responded by hitting Mashrafe for a four and a six in the third over, which ended with the Dynamites reaching 31.

Sangakkara's dismissal in the next over, stumped off Al-Amin for a 12-ball 20, brought no relief for Comilla as Nasir made full use of his promotion to number three and he started immediately, hitting boundaries from the start.

The run-rate hovered around 10 an over for most of their 84-run second-wicket partnership, which ended when Nasir failed to clear a Ryan ten Doeschate delivery over long off. He had scored a 35-ball 43 and gave Maruf the support that enabled Dhaka. Maruf hit one more six to take it to take Dhaka to 138 at the end of the 15th over in the company of Ravi Bopara, but both departed when in the next over bowled by leg-spinner Rashid Khan. Bopara missed a slog and was bowled, and a ball later Maruf mishit a lofted shot to mid off to be dismissed for a 39-ball 60 with four boundaries and three sixes. 

Skipper Shakib, who has not had the best time of it with the bat, then took over, hitting ten Doeschate for a straight six and a four in the 17th over. Dwayne Bravo hit another maximum off Tanvir in the next over. Shakib took on Khan, and hit him for a towering six over long on in the first ball of the 19th over but departed a ball later after hitting the ball straight to deep midwicket. The skipper had done his job as 13-ball 24 had taken Dhaka to 178 for five with nine balls to go.

One of those nine went for five wides, which ruined Khan's figures to an extent, but three for 28 is still an excellent return when a side scores 194.