Mrittunjoy Chowdhury hat-trick on BPL debut downs Sylhet Sunrisers

How the match played out
Mrittunjoy Chowdhury's hat-trick on BPL debut was the exclamation point in Chattogram Challengers' 16-run win against Sylhet Sunrisers. It was a close contest until the young left-arm quick removed the set Anamul Haque, Mosaddek Hossain, and the increasingly dangerous Ravi Bopara in the 18th over to derail Sylhet's 203-run chase.

Anamul made 78 off 47 balls, sharing a 112-run second-wicket stand with Colin Ingram, who also made a half-century. But Chattogram, who became the first side to put up 200 in this season's BPL, always looked one step ahead.

Newly appointed captain Naeem Islam and newly elevated head coach Shaun Tait were in charge of Chattogram for this fixture after Mehidy Hasan Miraz lost his job while the designated head coach Paul Nixon left for the UK. The win puts Chattogram on top of the BPL table with six points, while Sylhet languishes at the bottom with two points from four games.

Big hit
For the second evening in a row, Sylhet bowlers bore the brunt of big-hitting as Chattogram made 71 in the powerplay and also in the last five overs. Will Jacks played a major role in their rapid scoring, hitting a 19-ball 52 at a strike rate of 273.68, the second-highest for any 50-plus score in BPL history.

Jacks made his maiden BPL fifty off only 18 balls while his opening partner Lewis moved to just four runs by that time. Jacks started off by chipping Sunzamul Islam over his head, before scooping Taskin Ahmed for his first six.

He struck Sunzamul for two consecutive sixes in the third over, both slog-swept, before hitting Alauddin Babu for three fours in a row. With two more fours, Jacks reached his fifty but Taskin removed him next ball, a scoop gone wrong and ending up as an easy catch to Lendl Simmons at short fine-leg.

Howell's unbeaten 21-ball 41 complemented Jacks' great start and useful thirties from Sabbir Rahman and Afif Hossain. He struck a couple of stinging hits through the covers, and three sixes over the square-leg boundary, two of which came in the last over.

Anamul responded well with his eighth fifty in the BPL, particularly after Simmons fell cheaply in the innings following his century. Anamul struck his three sixes, all square of the wicket, while using almost the full 360 degrees to find the ones, twos and his nine fours.

But it was the little-known Mrittunjoy who had the last laugh, taking the hat-trick in only his seventh overall T20 match. He had missed much of Bangladesh's Under-19 World Cup triumph two years ago with a left shoulder injury he sustained during the tournament, but Saturday turned out to be his first big day in domestic cricket.

Big miss
Simmons missing out in this innings was a big deal for Sylhet. He made only nine runs before getting stumped off Nasum Ahmed in the second over of the chase. Fellow Caribbean opener Kennar Lewis, however, is having a more difficult time, unable to get off to good starts while Jacks has gone from strength to strength.