Tamim’s revival or Miraz controversy?

The Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) caravan will return to Dhaka after an eventful Chattogram-leg that had no shortage of exciting events on or off the field, starting from hometown hero Tamim Iqbal expressing his intention to extend a self-imposed T20I hiatus for another six months to rediscovering his T20 form in style.

The Chattogram-leg began in the best possible way as Tamim cancelled out Lendl Simmons' hundred with a magnificent unbeaten 111, the left-hander's second BPL ton, to help Minister Group Dhaka register a comprehensive nine-wicket win against Sylhet Sunrisers on the opening day's second match.

It was refreshing to watch the southpaw batter dance down the wicket and whack a flighted delivery through mid-on for a boundary to bring up his 50 before smashing one past the long off fielder to reach his fourth T20 hundred.

The Bangladesh's ODI captain signed off on his home leg with another valuable 46-run knock, with no shortage of trademark treats to the fans. He charged down the ground and used his feet to smash a flighted delivery outside off away over the long off fence to indicate he has a lot to deliver in the shortest format of the game.

Photo: Firoz Ahmed

It was no exaggeration when Dhaka captain Mahmudullah Riyad said: "Tamim is batting outstandingly. When Tamim is batting, it looks effortless. We can depend on him. He always targets some particular overs… he knows how to build an innings."

Mahmudullah himself had some brilliant outings in Chattogram, which saw high-scoring matches, as his unbeaten 70 not only ended Comilla Victorians' win streak and earned him a career-high score but also saw him achieve individual milestones of 5000 T20 runs and 2000 BPL runs.

The Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium also played host to this edition's maiden hattrick as 20-year old left-arm pacer Mrittunjoy Chowdhury hogged the spotlight.

Mrittunjoy made his BPL debut for Chattogram Challengers a memorable one by becoming only the sixth bowler in the history of the tournament to register a hattrick.  He became the third Bangladeshi with a BPL hattrick and joined the likes of Mohammad Sami, Al-Amin Hossain, Aliss Al Islam, Wahab Riaz and Andre Russell on the list of players with a hattrick in the BPL.

But did a single off-field event involving Mehedi Hasan Miraz overshadow all these on-field sparks?

There was talk about a payment confusion between Sylhet Sunrisers and Taskin Ahmed but while that was claimed to be solved, Miraz made headlines for his outburst after suddenly being stripped of captaincy by Chattogram Challengers.

The 24-year-old led Chattogram for the first four games, only to be replaced by Naeem hours before the fifth game against Sylhet Sunrisers.

Drama unfolded the following day, with the all-rounder on the verge of leaving Chattogram Challengers.

The issue was finally settled after Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) governing council member secretary Ismail Haider Mollick promised to investigate the incident between Miraz and his franchise, but not before Miraz raised many issues to the media.

Because it is the BPL and many incidents such as a change of captain have come under the scanner, whispers remain: was there anything fishy in the Miraz controversy?