Dhaka Dynamites' Al Islam Alis stole the show on Friday when his team won by two runs against Rangpur Riders, the defending champions of Bangladesh Premier League (BPL), reports UNB.
Alis, a completely unknown face in BPL, recorded a hat-trick as a T20 debutant and overshadowed the power-hitting batting show of Rilee Rossouw and Kieron Pollard.
Riders finished the innings 181 for nine in 20 overs. They needed 14 runs in the last over.
Alis' hat-trick came in the 18th over. He took the wickets of Mohammad Mithun, Mashrafe Mortaza and Farhad Reza in three consecutive deliveries. Mithun and Mashrafe were bowled while Reza podded a catch to slip fielder.
Alis took four wickets for 26.
Rossouw and Mithun added 121 off 73 on the third wicket stand but it was not enough to avoid the Riders' second loss of the season.
Earlier, a fiery Keiron Pollard guided Dhaka Dynamites to 183/9 after being sent to bat first. The West Indies batsman struck 62 off 26 balls with five fours and four sixes.
He added 78 runs off 40 balls with Shakib Al Hasan in the fifth wicket stand. The partnership was the main pillar of Dynamites' innings.
Shafiul Islam, the right-hand pacer of the Riders, took three scalps, and all of them were in the last over of the innings.
At the end of the 15th over of the innings, Dhaka were 142 for 4. During the last five overs, they added 41 runs and lost more five wickets.
After the first 10 overs, Dynamites were 75 for four. They lost the first wicket when Shohag Gazi trapped Hazratullah Zazai (1) in his first ball of the match.
Dynamites lost their second wicket at 19 when Riders captain Mashrafe Bin Mortaza forced Sunil Narine to sky a catch straight to point. Ravi Bopara took an easy one there.
Rony Talukdar tried to control the initial damage hitting 18 off eight balls but failed to continue the momentum. He was caught by Benny Howell at extra-cover off Shohag. In the ninth over, Dynamites lost Mizanur Rahman to Howell.
In the end, Dynamites won the match by two runs - their third consecutive victory in the current tournament.
In their next outings, Dynamites will face Sylhet today (Saturday) and Riders will lock horn with Rajshahi Kings on tomorrow (Sunday).
