Lacking in spirit, Dhaka crash out as Chattogram make final

Just like with the bat, there was not much to celebrate for Beximco Dhaka in the end as Gazi Group Chattogram chased down the meagre total of 116 without much hitch to win by seven wickets and make the final of the Bangabandhu T20 Cup. Chattogram will play the final against Gemcon Khulna on December 18.

While Dhaka successfully defended 150 the other day, there were not much runs on the board this time around and Liton Das, who survived a few scares early on in the innings including a dropped catch at third man off the bowling of Rubel Hossain, played a cool 40-run knock off 49 deliveries before departing with the score past 100-run mark.

Soumya Sarkar too lived dangerously, surviving a few edges that missed the fielders during 23-ball 27 laced with five fours before being run out.

Mohammad Mithun struck 34 off 35 before being caught in the boundary by Sabbir Rahman before Shamsur Rahman and Mosaddek Hossain took Chattogram through with five deliveries to spare. The demeanour in the field from some of the Dhaka players lacked conviction as was evidenced by Yasir Ali's effort while trying to take a catch against Shamsur and throughout the match, the lack of impetus saw  Dhaka crash out.

Earlier, Dhaka were bowled out for 116 as the Gazi Group Chattogram bowlers dominated proceedings in the Qualifier 2 match of the Bangabandhu T20 Cup.

Dhaka forced a change in their winning combination by sending in batsman Muktar Ali to open with Sabbir Rahman instead of regular opener Naim Sheikh. That the change may have been inconsequential may be derived from the resultant outcome but of far more importance was the fact that the incident involving Mushfiqur Rahim and Nasum Ahmed the other day may have dampened spirits in the dressing room.

Sabbir and Muktar the pinch hitter, departed very early and the pressure to reconsolidate fell squarely on the two most important batsmen in the side in Mushfiqur and Naim.

Naim could not make the kind of impact that a game of this magnitude needed and fell as he skied Rakibul Islam as Nadif Chowdhury took a brilliant catch at wide long on. Mushfiqur for his part tried to hold the innings together during his 31-ball 25 but departed trying to whack Mosaddek Hossain towards square leg as Rakibul took an excellent catch diving forward.

Yasir Ali scored a 21-ball 24 before Shoriful Islam, who bowled an excellent earlier spell got his scalp to finish with two wickets for 17 runs. Mustafizur then did the damage at the death, castling Al Amin, who had been looking to assert control during a 18-ball 25 and Nasum in back to back deliveries before Rubel Hossain managed to keep away the hattrick ball. Fizz bagged three wickets for 32 runs as Dhaka managed a below-par total.