Sunny hands Dynamites first defeat of the season

Dhaka Dynamites, regarded as the strongest team of the Bangladesh Premier League 2019, tasted their first defeat in the season by 20 runs as they could make only 116 runs while chasing a target of 137 runs set by the Rajshahi Kings on Wednesday.

Kings’ left arm spinner Arafat Sunny put up a magnificent bowling prowess on the way to picking three important wickets of Dhaka -- Andre Russell, Shakib Al Hasan and Rony Talukdar -- giving away only 8 runs in his four overs.

Kings’ skipper Mehidy Hasan Miraz and Ishuru Udana struck early to defend their respectable 136 runs. Then it was all about Arafat Sunny.

Miraz took two wickets while Udana, Kamrul Islam Rabbi and Mustafizur Rahman picked up one wicket each.

Dynamites’ wicket-keeper batsman Nurul Hasan’s late cameo of 21 off 14 balls could not save them. They scored 116 runs at the loss of 9 wickets.

Mohammad Naim, Pollard, Shakib Al Hasan, Rony Talukder and Andre Russell scored 17, 13, 13, 14 and 11 runs respectively.

Earlier, Rajshahi skipper Miraz won the toss and opted to bat first in the match after botching up a chase of 128 runs against Khulna Titans in the previous night.

They lost their first wicket in the third over of the match scoring only two runs. But Marshall Ayub (45 off 31) and Shahriar Nafees (25 off 27) help the Kings post a respectable total of 136 runs losing six wickets in their 20 overs.

Wicket-keeper batsman Zakir Hasan scored 20 off 18.

Kings played the match wearing jerseys with the players’ mothers' names on the back.

Dhaka’s Sunil Narine picked up three wickets while Russell, Shakib and Aliss Al Islam took one wicket each.

Rajshahi made three changes in the side from their last match. They dropped Mominul Haque, Soumya Sarkar and Laurie Evans. Shahriar Nafees, Marshall Ayub and Seekkuge Prasanna were included in the side.