If the Sylhet Sixers were the team to watch in the Sylhet leg of the Bangladesh Premier League, then Shakib Al Hasan's Dhaka Dynamites took the baton in the Dhaka leg as they maintained their unbeaten run by handing a 68-run defeat to the Rajshahi Kings at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium yesterday.
In the first session Evin Lewis tuned into the prelude of the calypso with the bat before Kieron Pollard provided the finishing touches. Both batsmen's quick-fire half-centuries fired Dynamites to 201; the second time they have crossed the 200-mark.
Shahid Afridi then joined the party in the second session, trapping the Kings in a spin web with a four-wicket haul as Dhaka raced to their third win from four games in the second leg after the last match was abandoned due to rain.
Local boy Abu Hider also deserved some kudos for making the initial inroads while captain Shakib scalped the two important wickets of Darren Sammy and James Franklin as Kings were bundled out for 133.
However Kings skipper Darren Sammy blamed dropped catches.
"Two of our key bowlers were unfit but at the end of the day if you drop four catches against a good side, most of the time you have to pay for that. And we did pay for that," he opined.
Among the missed chances, Pollard's two lives (when he was on 18 and 28) were the most costly. Coming in to bat at number seven, Pollard simply carried on from his 24-ball 55 in the previous match against the Khulna Titans to hit an unbeaten 52 off 25 with five fours and three sixes. That tornado knock helped Dhaka rack up 71 runs from the last five overs.
Earlier it was left-hander Lewis who put the Rajshahi bowlers to the sword during his 38-ball 65 that contained ten fours and one six, his knock guiding Dhaka to 99 runs from the first ten overs before Kings bounced back by giving away only 31 runs in the five overs.
Lewis started with two fine boundaries against off spinner Habibur Rahman in the first over and then punished Mehedi Hasan in the second over with two fours and a six to set the tone, before Afridi demoralized the Kings' attack in the third over. The Pakistani firebrand hit Farhad Reza for three boundaries during his 8-ball cameo which yielded 15 runs.
In reply, Kings made a disastrous start as Hider removed Rony Talukder with the fifth ball of the innings and one-down Samit Patel was the next victim, departing in the third over and leaving the scoreboard at 11 for two.
Sammy's side failed to recover from the early hiccup and young Zakir Hossain -- who hit a fifty in the previous -- was the only one who could provide the crowd with some entertainment in the second innings with his 23-ball 36.
Rajshahi have played six matches and managed only two wins while Dhaka have four wins and one loss from their six.