Allrounders Shakib and Russell blow Sylhet Sixers away

David Warner was upbeat when he won the toss, with Sixers having broken their sequence of defeat in the last game by batting first and defending successfully, but none of the batsmen showed the gumption to stick it out other than the captain. Battling an elbow injury that will cut short his BPL stay, Warner showed Sylhet what they would miss by battling to 63 off 43 to drag his team to a reasonable score. The Dynamites bowlers operated in a pack, managing to rein in Sixers whenever they threatened to get away.

In the chase, Dynamites lost three wickets in the first five overs, but their big guns were unaffected, and it was they who piloted the chase. Shakib Al Hasan was dominant, and never let his side feel the pressure of the wickets, and then Andre Russell came and finishing things off in a blaze of sixes. Their unbroken 51 run-stand that took the team to victory in just 17 overs came off a mere 27 balls.

- Warner had started cautiously, but then he saw the top order crumbling around him and decided to cut loose, and 31 runs came off the 15th and 16th overs, ensuring that Sylhet's bowlers would have a total to bowl at

- Dynamites faced a wobble at 39 for 3 in five overs, and Shakib, who had faced only three balls then, smashed Al-Amin Hossain for 14 runs in the last over of the Powerplay to negate the effect of the early strikes. He would later loot 25 runs off the 11th and 12th overs, bringing the equation to below a run a ball

- Sixers needed a last-gasp miracle to turn things around but Russell sent Tasking Ahmed into orbit with two massive sixes in the 16th over, making the rest of the chase a mere formality

Shakib took the two most important wickets when Dynamites bowled, first trapping Liton Das lbw for a 14-ball 27, and then coming back to snare Warner in the 19th over to deny Sixers a finishing kick or the positivity of good momentum heading into the innings break. He later helmed the chase expertly, timing and placing the ball to perfecting. He was impeccable in his judgement of which moment, and bowler, to choose to attack.

Big things were expected of Sandeep Lamichhane, especially since Sixers didn't have a huge total to defend. However, he wasn't able to tie down Shakib, which contributed largely to the Dynamites captain scoring freely against the other bowlers too and never letting the early wickets hamper the chase.

Dynamites have strengthened their position at the top of the table with five wins from six games and 10 points. Sixers remain second from bottom with four points from six games.