Tamil Iqbal's unbeaten 141 powers Comilla Victorians to their 2nd title
The 2019 Bangladesh Premier League witnessed a masterclass from Tamim Iqbal as his 61-ball 141*powered Comilla Victorians to lift their second BPL title in the finals against Dhaka Dynamites, winning by 17 runs.
His innings consisted of 10 fours and 11 sixes and had a strike rate of 213.15. His heroics with the bat helped the Victorians win their second title. Iqbal had an average performance in the tournament so far but stepped up big time on the big night, taking the Dynamites to the cleaners.
It was the second highest score in a T20 tournament final as his knock helped the Imrul Kayes led Victorians to post 199. He also became the first Bangladesh batsman to hit more than 10 sixes in a match.
Besides Tamim, none of the other batsmen managed to contribute much on a tricky Mirpur wicket, as opener Evin Lewis departed for 6. Anamul Haque put 24 before being dismissed by Shakib Al Hasan.
However, with Dhaka's bowling unit consisting of players such as Shakib, Andre Russell and Rubel Hossain, Tamim showed no fear as he went on banging the ball into the stands.
In the chase, opener Upul Tharanga started off strong for the Dynamites and fell two runs short of a half-century as Perera got his wicket. Sunil Narine was unlucky as he was run-out for a duck on the big night.
However, the momentum changed when Rony Talukdar started hitting away and reached 66 before being run-out. Once Talukdar was dismissed, the remainder of the batsmen couldn't do much as Mohammad Saifuddin (2/38), Wahab Riaz (3/28) and Perera (2/35) did the damage.
The Dynamites found themselves in deep trouble as their lower order as well caved out, thus losing the opportunity to win their fourth title.
Here's how the players reacted after the finals:
Tamim Iqbal, Man of the Match - Throughout the tournament I had starts but I failed to convert them. So, I guess, I saved my best for the last. We planned the innings really well. They had 2 world class bowlers in the form of Narine and Shakib and we didn't take chances against them. It was a terrific wicket and at one point even 200 was looking less but I always knew we will be back in the match once we take couple of wickets. The wickets of Pollard and Russell were really important. I am flying tomorrow to New Zealand, hopefully, I will do well their also.
Imrul Kayes, winning skipper - Tamim is a great player and he showed his character today. Everyone will remember his today's knock. At one point I was worried as we didn't bowl well in the powerplay. But we came back strongly in the middle overs. Riaz and Perera were brilliant for us in that phase.
