The Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) Dhaka phase saw a run-flood, unlike the past two seasons, giving the fans and players an equal opportunity to savour the tournament.
In Dhaka, a total of eight matches were held so far in four days before it moved to Sylhet. The stat showed that, in those matches a total of 2648 runs were scored, which meant the team amassed 331 runs in per match. The stat showed the per innings score was 165.5.
The last season saw a total of 2378 in first four days (eight matches) in Dhaka phase and on an average per match score was below 300 (297.25). The average runs per inning were 148.7.
In 2023, it was almost the same. The runs per match were 304 in 2023, meaning per innings average were 152.
The 11th edition of BPL had already seen two centuries in eight matches.
The most striking feature of this BPL was how terrifically the local batters and bowlers turned up. When Bangladeshi batters were very often criticized for their strike rate, in this BPL, they did astonishing job. Pakistan's Faheem Ashraf had the highest strike rate of 229. Among the Bangladeshis, Mahidul Islam Ankon scored runs at a staggering strike rate of 206.81, Shamim Patwari 195.12, Mahmudullah Riyad 194 and Nurul Hasan Sohan have scored runs at a strike rate of 188.
Three of the five highest run-scorers are from Bangladesh so far. Durbar Rajshahi's Anamul Haque Bijoy has scored the highest 146, Chittagong Kings' Pakistani batter Usman Khan 141, Dhaka Capitals' Sri Lankan all-rounder Thisara Perera 141, Durbar Rajshahi's Yasir Ali 132 and Rangpur Riders' Saif Hasan 106 runs. Except for Usman, each has played three matches. As far as the strike rate is concerned, the rest except Saif (123.25) have scored runs more than 160 strike rate.
While the past two BPL tournaments were hugely criticized for low scoring game in most of the matches, this time, the new BCB president Faruque Ahmed, who was also a former national captain, instructed specially to prepare the wicket. He gave a strict order to prepare sporting wickets where batters can enjoy good bounce and bowlers can take wickets if he is skillful enough.
Amid the run-fest, Bangladesh pacer Taskin Ahmed dazzled incredibly, proving, bowling with skill can fetch the wicket even in placid deck.
"Actually, sometimes the instructions are very important. If three/four different instructions are given from one place, it is difficult for the curator too," Faruque said.
"This time we wanted to see a good wicket. There should be bounce in the wicket. It is necessary to play on such wickets. This way, bowlers will also learn how to bowl on a good batting wicket and batters will learn how to score big runs."
Mirpur pitch naturally tends to be slow and low but Faruque proved if the curator is properly instructed, they can prepare a good wicket here.
"In slow and low wicket, the bowlers can take advantage even by bowling short of length. But on a true wicket, that does not happen. It is good for both batters and bowlers. So the instructions were for a good batting wicket. Again, the bowlers also got movement, which I have seen in all eight matches. If the bowlers can be disciplined, they will be successful also here," Faruque added.
It was not just the batters who excelled here, even the bowlers also did tremendous job as Faruque said.
Taskin Ahmed of Durbar Rajshahi claimed highest 12 wickets in just three matches, including a record-shattering seven wickets for 19 runs.
Khushdil Shah of Rangpur Riders is in second spot with seven wickets. Nahid Rana of Rangpur Riders and Abu Haider Rony of Khulna Tigers jointly took six wickets while Aliss Al Islam of Chittagong Kings took five wickets in two matches, meaning four of the five top bowlers so far are the local players.
Three of the top three bowlers who are economically best are from Bangladesh. All of these three bowlers are spinners. Khulna Tigers captain Mehidy Hasan Miraz has the economy rate under four, while Aliss Al Islam conceded 4.25 runs per over and his teammate Arafat Sunny gave away 5.75 runs per over. —BSS
