Left-arm pacer Mrittujnjoy Chowdhury recorded a hat-trick against Sylhet Sunrisers on his Bangabandhu Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) debut Saturday to put Chattogram Challengers on the top of the table with three wins in five matches.
Chattogram Challengers beat Sylhet Sunrisers by 16 runs in this match at Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chattogram.
It was the sixth hat-trick in BPL, and third by a Bangladeshi bowler.
Sunrisers needed to chase down a target of 203 runs— the biggest in this edition of BPL— to beat Chattogram. But they failed to do so as they ended their chase with 186 for six wickets in 20 overs.
While chasing, Sunrisers lost their first wicket in nine runs when the centurion of the last match Lindle Simmions fell for nine of seven balls. In the second wicket, Anamul Haque Bijoy and Colin Ingram added 112 runs to set a good foundation.
But Mrittonjoy removed Anamul, Moasaddek Hossain and Ravi Bopara in three successive deliveries, and subsequently they failed to keep the scoreboard afloat.
Anamul fell for 78 off 47 with nine fours and three sixes— his best in this edition of BPL so far while Ingram posted 50 off 37 balls with five fours and two sixes.
Mrittunjoy ended up taking three wickets conceding 33 runs in four overs while Nasum Ahmed scalped two wickets.
Earlier, Sunrisers won the toss and sent Chattogram to bat first who scored 202— the highest team total in this BPL so far— riding on fifty of Will Jacks and 38 off 28 by Afif Hossain, 31 off 29 by Sabbir Rahman, and 41 off 21 balls by Benny Howell. Mehidy Hasan Miraz, who handed the captaincy to Naeem Islam before the match, posted 13 off four balls with two sixes.
For Sunrisers, Taskin Ahmed, Sohag Gazi, Mosaddek Hossain, Ravi Bopara, and Muktar Ali scalped one wicket each.
Chattogram will take on Comilla Victorians on January 31 while Sunrisers will play Khulna Tigers on February 3 in Dhaka.
Source: United News of Bangladesh