Dhaka Dynamites slip at the final hurdle

Dhaka Dynamites fell in the final hurdle, a collapse that may require the next 11 months to analyse. But what went wrong was that they were out-thought by a calculative hitting spree by two of T20s greatest masters: Chris Gayle and Brendon McCullum.

If you take the final out of their campaign, Dhaka were one of the better performing teams in the competition. Their star-heavy team performed regularly, particularly Evin Lewis, Shahid Afridi, Sunil Narine and Kieron Pollard. But Dhaka's theme was to show the rest of the country that they were winning, which didn't happen in the end as second best wasn't going to be enough for them.

Part of their problem in the final was far too many bowling options with Shakib Al Hasan ultimately bowling three overs. If he had bowled the fourth over, perhaps one of the younger bowlers wouldn't have bowled another expensive over. Then again, Shakib admitted that him dropping Gayle on 22 was the difference.

But Dhaka, given their rich and influential owners, are expected to bounce back even stronger and build a better squad - perhaps a leaner unit.

Dhaka had a great top order with Lewis leading the way with 396 runs at a strike-rate of 159.03 in 12 innings. Pollard wasn't too far behind either with his match-winning efforts. Afridi, Shakib and Narine contributed with bat and ball, while Abu Hider gave them regular breakthroughs.

At times, Mosaddek Hossain was underused while too much emphasis was placed on using their big-hitting foreign brigade, particularly Afridi and Narine. Jahurul Islam also batted far too low at times while their rotation of Mohammad Saddam and the other pace bowlers looked more like a token move rather than tactical.

Like Comilla Victorians, perhaps avoid the problem of plenty by having fewer players on the bench - most fans would have wondered why Mohammad Amir didn't play in the final. However, a big-money team like Dhaka shouldn't be expected to spend anything less next season.