CHITTAGONG, Bangladesh, CMC – West Indies star Marlon Samuels and Dwayne Bravo both starred as Comilla Victorians stunned Dhaka Dynamites by 12 runs to storm to the top of the Bangladesh Premier League standings here yesterday.
Playing at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in the second match of the doubleheader, Samuels top-scored with 39 from 27 deliveries as Victorians, sent in, reached 167 for six off their 20 overs.
Opener Tamim Iqbal scored 37 from 23 balls while fellow opener Liton Das chipped in with 34 in a 60-run first-wicket partnership.
Samuels, who hit five fours and two sixes, put on 30 for the fourth wicket with Jos Buttler (4), to keep the innings going once both openers fell.
Trinidadian medium pacer Kevon Cooper, playing in his first match of the tournament, was the best bowler with three for 42 while fellow countryman and Windies off-spinner, Sunil Narine, helped strangle the Victorians’ batsmen by conceding just 15 runs from four overs.
Bravo then produced the goods with his medium pace, claiming three for 31 from his four overs to help restrict Dynamites to 155 for eight from their 20 overs.
England’s Joe Denly top-scored with 49 from 39 balls while Kieron Pollard struck 27 from 21 balls, batting at number six.
Pollard was threatening to take Dynamites over the line when he holed out to deep mid-wicket off a slower ball from Bravo in the 18th over.
Another Trinidad and Windies star, Evin Lewis, failed at the top of the order with six while Narine managed just five in the middle order.
Victorians have 14 points, with Khulna Titans one point behind in second and Dynamites slipping to third spot on 11.
In the first game of the evening, two-time Twenty20 World Cup-winning West Indies captain, Darren Sammy, produced his second Man-of-the-Match performance in three matches, lift Rajshahi Kings to a 33-run victory over Chittagong Kings.Sammy blasted a top score of 40 off 25 deliveries as Kings, opting to bat first, rallied to 157 for six off their 20 overs.
Mushfiqur Rahim chimed in with 31 while New Zealander James Franklin struck 30 and England’s Luke Wright, 25.
Kings were stuttering at 86 for four in the 12th over before Sammy arrived to energise the innings in a 69-run, fifth wicket partnership with Franklin.
Sammy, the Kings skipper, struck two fours and three sixes while Franklin faced 30 balls and counted two fours in a supporting knock.
The St Lucian eventually fell in the final over when he was lbw to English left-arm seamer Luis Reece, after he missed a full length delivery.
In reply, Vikings folded for 124 with four balls remaining.