Mashrafee steals Tamim’s show

Big-spending Cyclones of Chittagong suffered their second successive defeat in the National Cricket League Twenty20 Tournament despite opener Tamim Iqbal cracked 91 off 60 balls the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium on Monday.
Mashrafee bin Murtaza, playing his first game since his unceremonious exit from the national squad during the one-day series against England, overshadowed Tamim with an all-round performance leading Sultans of Sylhet to a five-wicket victory.
Cyclones were reluctant to play the game in less than 12 hours after they had participated in the opening match, which ended at midnight on the previous day. They had lodged a written protest and requested the organisers to swap the schedule with the afternoon fixture but were rejected.
Put in to bat first, Tamim, however, showed no signs of fatigue and raced to his fifty in 40 balls before becoming more aggressive to add 41 runs from 20 balls. Mashrafee was third-time lucky to get Tamim’s wicket after Nazmus Sadat and Farhad Reza had dropped the left-hander on 79 and 86 runs at deep cover-point and long-on respectively off his bowling.
Despite the hurricane innings of Tamim, the Chittagong franchise were all out for 152 as no other batsman could provide him adequate support. Cyclones felt doubly denied when a powerful stroke of Tamim struck the helmet of his elder brother and captain Nafees Iqbal at the non-striking end which virtually ruled him out of the next game.
Nafees, who continued his batting despite the blow but was run out soon making eight runs, had to go to the hospital for a CT scan after the match. Cyclones sources said his condition is stable, although they are unlikely to play him in today’s match against Kings of Khulna.
The performance of Pakistani cricketer Shoaib Akhtar was another agony for Cyclones as the speedster went wicketless in the second successive match, which proved very costly for the side.
Shoaib, who managed to cause a panic in his opening spell injuring opener Nasmus Sadat with a bouncer, was dealt some lusty blows in his second spell by Alok Kapali, who led the run chase for Sultans with an unbeaten 49 off 39 balls with five fours and a six.
The turning point of the innings, however, came in the 16th over when Faisal Hossain, who was standing in as captain for Nafees, handed the ball to Nasir Hossain only for Mashrafee to seize the opportunity.
Mashrafee struck the off-spinner for three sixes in the over, which cost Cyclones 21 runs taking the game totally to Sultans’ way. Mashrafee was finally out for 26 off 13 balls, nine balls before Sultans completed their victory making 153-5 in 18.5 overs.
‘This was my second competitive game in nine months. So I am really happy with my performance,’ said a delighted man-of-the-match Mashrafee. ‘I badly needed to play this game. I have always said I am now totally fit, but to regain my match fitness I needed something like this.’
Cyclones batsman Tamim Iqbal said they can still reach the semi-finals if they win the remaining three games.
‘Cricket is a funny game and Twenty20 is even
funnier. Anything can happen in this format,’ said Tamim.
To keep their semi-final hope alive, Cyclones sources said they will try Shaoib Akhtar in another match despite his below-par performance. Shoaib, who was being paid $5,500 per match, finished with 0-29 after conceding 31 runs in his three overs for no wicket in the previous match.