Minister Group Dhaka 177 for 1 (Tamim 111*, Shahzad 53, Babu 1-32) beat Sylhet Sunrisers 175 for 5 (Simmons 116, Ahmad 1-26) by nine wickets
How the match played out
A day after announcing his break from T20Is, Tamim Iqbal played one of his most destructive innings. It led to Minister Group Dhaka's nine-wicket win over Sylhet Sunrisers with three overs to spare. A smiling Tamim finished things off with his umpteenth cover-driven boundary as he and Mohammad Shahzad made a mockery of the 176-run chase.
The Dhaka opening pair brought up the first century stand of the BBL 2022, which ended at 173 when Shahzad got out with the target three runs away. Tamim's century upended Lendl Simmons' 65-ball 116, which was the first hundred of the season.
The win lifted Dhaka from the bottom of the points table to fourth position, while Sylhet lost their second game in three outings.
Big hit
Tamim was dropped on nought when Mohammad Mithun failed to latch on to a tough chance at slip off Taskin Ahmed. After the reprieve, the opener didn't let the Sylhet bowlers settle. He hammered the ball through the covers, both from the crease and while charging the bowlers. He also scored runs down the ground, but his most productive area was behind square on the leg side, where he hit six fours and one six.
Shahzad, for once, was the quieter of the two openers. When Tamim reached his fifty, Shahzad was on 14. The Afghan marauder did get his boundaries eventually, with well-timed cuts and wristy flicks, but he mostly played a supportive role.
Earlier in the day, Simmons provided entertainment as well. He struck all five of his sixes down the ground, two over long-off and the other three towards long-on or wide long-on. During his stay, Simmons also hit 14 fours, most of which were through the off side.
Andre Russell bore the brunt of Simmons' big-hitting, conceding 42 runs off 14 balls against him, including seven fours and two sixes.
Big miss
Simmons made 116, but the rest of the Sylhet batters combined to score only 52 runs off 55 balls, hitting just four fours and two sixes between them. This is where Sylhet fell behind in the match. They also missed the left-arm spinner Nazmul Islam, who took seven wickets in the last two matches including 4 for18 in their previous match against Dhaka. In the same match, however, Nazmul injured his right hand and was ruled out of this game.
