Chittagong Vikings 145 for 7 (Mosaddek 33, Delport 30, Shakib 4-16) beat Dhaka Dynamites 139 for 9 (Shakib 34, Delport 3-25, Frylinck 2-19) by three wickets
Having spent the majority of the match in front, Chittagong Vikings almost paid for the lack of a killer instinct as Shakib Al Hasan helped Dhaka Dynamites to nearly pull off an unlikely victory. Robbie Frylinck spared Vikings the blushes in a dramatic final over cameo to seal victory with a ball to spare.
Thanks to Cameron Delport's fiery 30 off 12 balls to kickstart the Vikings chase, the required run rate was down to a run a ball by the 10-over mark. But the Vikings middle order showed no sense of urgency as just three boundaries were struck over the next nine overs. Entering the final over with 16 needed to win, a single put Frylinck on strike for the second ball, and he proceeded to smash three sixes in the next four balls to deny the Dynamites.
Frylinck struck twice in the Powerplay, after Dynamites had chosen to bat first, getting Rony Talukdar to drag an inside edge on, before a clever change of angle to around the wicket bowled a fiery Sunil Narine two overs later
Abu Jayed stunted the Dynamites' recovery with a double-wicket maiden in the ninth over, claiming Heino Kuhn and Darwish Rasooli
Dynamites had stabilized at 95 for 4 in the 15th over, with both Shakib Al Hasan and Nurul Hasan well-set, before Cameron Delport removed both in the space of five balls. Andre Russell holed out two balls into the following over.
Frylinck bookended the match after his great start with the ball by snuffing out the Dynamites with his trio of sixes to clinch the chase.Frylinck outshined Shakib Al Hasan at the last moment. Shakib seemed to be rallying the Dynamites to a win when he bowled a wicket-maiden in the 17th over of the Vikings chase to cap off a spell of 4 for 16 to go with a top-score of 34 in the first innings. But Frylinck's pair of wickets, paired with his unbeaten 25 off 10 balls, reduced Shakib's performance to a footnote.
Arguably Shakib's ability to hit the stumps to bowl Nayeem Hasan. Frylinck had only been dismissed once in four innings, scoring 88 runs entering the match, and Vikings arguably committed a strategic blunder, sending Nayeem in at No. 7, ahead of Frylinck. Had Nayeem stayed at the crease a bit longer, Frylinck might not have had enough time to rescue the Vikings.
Vikings drew level with Dynamites at the top of the table with 10 points. While Dynamites have a vastly superior net run rate advantage, Vikings have an extra match in hand.