Tamim’s sparkling 141 powers Comilla Victorians to BPL title win over Dhaka Dynamites

A swashbuckling 141 by Tamim Iqbal has propelled the Comilla Victorians to their second Bangladesh Premier League title with a 17-run win over the Dhaka Dynamites.

Chasing 200 for a win, Shakib Al Hasan’s Dhaka managed 182 for nine in 20 overs at Mirpur Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in the capital on Friday.

Earlier, after winning the toss and bowling first, the Dhaka Dynamites got off to an ideal start by dismissing Comilla opener Evin Lewis in the second over of the match.

But Tamim, playing in his first BPL final, stamped his mark on the big stage by hitting 10 boundaries and 11 sixes in a blistering 61-ball century.

Anamul Haque finished as the innings’ second highest scorer with 24 runs off 30 deliveries.

It was the second time the Dhaka Dynamites lost in the BPL final. The fourth-placed Dynamites won the toss and asked second-placed Comilla Victorians to bat first. The decision appeared to have backfired as the Victorians raced to 98-2 after 12 overs.

Tamim was in a rich vein of form and smashed the bowlers all around the park to power his way to his third T20 hundred and highest T20 score, as he raced to 141 not out off just 61 balls. It was the joint 15th highest individual innings in T20 history and came at an astonishing strike rate of 231.14 runs per 100 balls.

The right-hander fashioned an unbroken partnership of 100 for the fourth wicket with skipper Imrul Kayes, whose contribution was only 17 runs off 21 balls.

Chasing the daunting target for victory, Upul Tharanga (48 off 27 balls) and Rony Talukdar (66 off 38 balls) came out all guns blazing. They added 102 for the second wicket in under nine overs to keep the Dynamites ahead of the run rate. But they lost three wicket wickets for 12 runs in 14 balls to let the Victorians. back in the game.

Wahab Riaz (3-28), Thisara Perera (2-35) and Mohammad Saifuddin (2-38) struck whenever the Dynamites threatened to run away with the game.