Dynamites dump Blazers as Rangers win again

Title favourites Dhaka Dynamites got off to a winning start in the National Cricket League Twenty20 tournament while Rajshahi Rangers bagged their second successive win on Monday.
Fresh from a six-wicket win over Cyclones of Chittagong in the tournament opener, Rangers rode on a superb bowling performance by paceman Muktar Ali to beat Kings of Khulna by 36 runs at the BKSP.
Muktar claimed 5-22 after his three-wicket haul in the opener as Rangers bundled out Kings of Khulna for 141 runs in 19.3 overs after they had put on 177-9, opting to bat first.
Kings’ Farhad Hossain displayed a brilliant all-round performance, first taking three wickets for 11 runs and executing two run-outs before finishing on an unbeaten 41 off 32 balls, but his all efforts went in vain.
Rangers were off to a flying start with the opening pair of Australian Aiden Blizzard and Hannan Sarkar fetching 59 runs in five overs before Farhad gave Kings their first breakthrough.
Blizzard was the first batsman out making 39 off 20 balls with nine fours. Elias Sunny dismissed Hannan for 44 off 22 balls as Rangers collapsed suddenly losing six wickets in quick succession to be reduced from 81-1 to 108-7.
However, Shubhagata Hom (35 off 30 balls) and Sanjamul Islam (31 not out) repaired the damage and lifted Rangers to a decent total.
Kings were equally aggressive at the start with Imrul Kayes (31 off 19 balls), Mohammad Mithun (21 off 12 balls) and Sakib al Hasan (18 off 12 balls) making some runs at the top of the order, but apart from Farhad, none of the lower-orders could make any decent contribution to the team’s total.
Sanjamul and Sohrawardi grabbed two wickets apiece for Rangers to expedite Kings’ collapse.
At the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium, Dynamites restricted Barisal Blazers to 149-7 before racing to 151-4 with five balls left to start the tournament on a winning note.
Put in to bat first, Barisal Blazers started their innings positively reaching 43 in 4.5 overs before Mohammad Rafique took a stunning catch at mid-on to dismiss opener Nazimuddin, who made 35 from 21 balls.
Roqibul Hassan steadied the Blazers innings with 43 off 40 balls after they had lost a few quick wickets. Bangladesh Under-19 skipper Mahmudul Hasan aided him with 21 off 19 balls to give the innings some respectability.
Replying to the innings, Dhaka lost in-form Imran Nazir early in their innings, but fellow opener Shamsur Rahman sealed the deal with 41 from 23 balls, an innings which included six fours and a six that earned him the man of the match award.
Jahirul Islam (36 off 32 balls) and Sri Lanka’s Jeevan Mendis (29 not out off 27) also played a part in Dynamites’ victory.