Naim, Zakir, Shahadat Eyeing To Break The Shackles

The target was just 143 runs. A match where just 7.5 runs is required and Durdanto Dhaka could have taken a very conservative against Comilla Victorians in the opening game of the ongoing Bangladesh Premier League at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium on Friday.

Durdanto Dhaka’s opener Naim Sheikh could have taken a very traditional approach and it would not have been surprising considering it suits his style of play as his strike in the shortest format is 109 to be precise.,

But on Friday it was not the at home of cricket as Naim showed the other side of his batting as he scored 23-ball 40 in the power play to help Durdanto post 56 runs at the end of powerplay without losing any wicket and probably the momentum shifted since that point of time.

Though Victorians made a comeback as their bowlers came up with disciplined bowling to take the game till the last over but at the end Durdanto won the match by five wickets to stun the defending champions.

Naim scored highest 52 runs decorated with three sixes and three fours for Dhaka while added 101 runs with Gunathilaka to the set the platform for their morale boosting win.

Though at the end of the day Shoriful Islam hogged the spotlight at the end of the day, courtesy his hat-trick, but he did not forget to mention the effort of his team mate during the post match press conference.

“When we went to the dressing room we all had the confidence that we can win this game as it was very much chase able and if we can get a blazing start we can manage to reach the target,” said Shoriful.

“Our openers gave us a dream start and we achieve to cross the hurdle,” he said.

Naim was always criticized for batting slowly in white ball cricket but he managed to come out of the shackles to answer his critics.

It was the same case with other two cricketers Zakir Hasan as many felt the Test opener cannot play attacking brand of cricket considering he is labeled as a longer-format cricketer and he seemed determined to answer the critics by playing his best T20 knock of his career for Sylhet Strikers against Chattogram Challengers in the second game of the day.

Zakir played for Strikers during last season and he looked to be carrying the same role that he did last year and it looked he began from where he left off in the last season.

Zakir helped his side post a challenging 177-2 with his blistering 43-ball 70 that included seven fours and a six and added unbeaten 82 runs with Harry Tector.

“I think he really played well,” Challengers Nazibullah Zadran told Kriknews when his attention was drawn regarding Zakir’s batting after the game.

The Afghans was not shy away to praise Zakir but more than that he was happy to see his team mate Shahadat Hossain, who was making a BPL debut, come out blazing in the middle.

“Didn’t look like he was playing the first game,” he said.

In the second innings of the game Shahadat just over shadowed Zakir’s innings, who just made debut in Test cricket couple of days back.

In the cricket circle the Under-19 World Cup winner is known to have a sound technique and many feels that he is suitable for longer-format cricket but in reality he showed everyone what he can do in the shortest form of the game with some brilliant stroke play.

Shahadat added 121 runs in just 68 balls for the fourth wicket with Nazibullah and that set the tone for Challengers to begin their campaign on the right note.

Shahadat made unbeaten 57 runs from just 39 balls and decorated the innings with four sixes and as many fours to change perception about his batting skill.

“From the start of my career I always wanted to adapt to different formats and I always was focused to develop me so that I can fulfill the requirement of my team in the middle according to the situation,” Shahadat told reporters after the game while also disclosed the plan he was following while chasing the big total.
“At that point of time we lost some quick wickets and we needed a partnership and we wanted to see that we don’t lose further wickets and Nazibullah was saying that if we can play well in three or four overs in that case we can always pick up,” he added.

Mashrafee bin Mortaza, who led Strikers in the game, praised both Zakir and Shahadat, known as suited for Test cricket, for showing their batting skill in the T20 format.

“I think Zakir is playing well from last season and when I saw Dipu for the first time he looked promising,” added the former national captain.