Durdanto Dhaka began their Bangladesh Premier League 2024 campaign with a win, thanks to Shoriful Islam and Mohammad Naim, who defeated defending champions Comilla Victorians by five wickets in the tournament’s opener on Friday at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Mirpur.
Shoriful scores hat-trick in BPL opener.
Shoriful, a left-arm pacer, starred with his maiden T20 hattrick, taking three wickets in three overs and conceding 27 runs to help restrict Comilla to 143 for six, while Naim scored a 40-ball 52 with three fours and as many sixes to help Dhaka reach the target with three balls remaining.
Shoriful Islam scores his first hat-trick in the BPL T20 | #HatTrickHero pic.twitter.com/lFgHSWYKsT; Bangladesh Cricket (@BCBtigers) January 19, 2024.
Earlier, former Comilla captain Imrul Kayes hit six fours and two sixes in a 56-ball 66, forming a 107-run second wicket partnership with Towhid Hridoy, who struck 41 off 47 balls after being called in to bat.
Dhaka pacer Taskin Ahmed sent the Comilla pair packing in the 19th over, and Shoriful followed suit in the next over, scalping three in a row.
BPL 2024 complete fixtures: dates, timings, and venues.
In response, Dhaka’s openers put up a 101-run stand, with Naim leading the way, while his opening partner, Sri Lanka’s Danushka Gunathilaka, managed a slow 42-ball 41 before being bowled by Comilla’s left-arm spinner Tanvir Islam.
Irfan Shukkur, Dhaka’s wicket-keeper batsman, contributed a 16-ball 24-run cameo, putting his team on the brink of their first win, but Chaturanga de Silva hammered a maximum in the final over to seal the deal.