Kings depose Sultans

Kings of Khulna's Imrul Kayes whacks one over mid-wicket during his fine knock of 38 against Sultans of Sylhet during the first semifinal of the NCL T20s at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur yesterday.Photo: STAR

Kings of Khulna came up with their best when it was most required as Shakib Al Hasan's men pulled off an upset six-wicket victory yesterday over Mashrafe Bin Mortaza's Sultans of Sylhet to move into the final of the Destiny Group National Cricket League T20s.
Despite the match being a low-scoring affair and some bad decisions by umpire Nadir Shah, the first semifinal produced a close contest in an otherwise dull and drab tournament in front of some 4,000 spectators at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur.
Mashrafe's men dragged the game into the last over. But with four runs required to win, Farhad Hossain slammed a boundary down the ground from the fourth ball off the Sylhet captain as the Kings overhauled their target of 131 with two balls to spare.
Kings of Khulna were poor in the league stages but it seemed that they got back their rhythm after a crucial victory against Barisal Blazers on Sunday, which confirmed their semifinal berth and they took control of the match soon after Mashrafe decided to bat first.
Sri Lankan pacer Nuwan Zoysa gave Khulna a great start by removing openers Kaushalya Weeraratna and Gazi Salahuddin with the scoreboard reading 24 for two in five overs, but some credit most go to another Sri Lankan recruit Mahela Lakmal Udawatte who took a splendid running catch to send back his compatriot.
Sylhet's crisis deepened when leg umpire Nadir Shah raised his finger although in-form Alok Kapali's back-foot was well inside when wicketkeeper Mohammad Mithun broke the stumps.
Sultans of Sylhet however posted a decent total, thanks to Forhad Reza who clobbered three big sixes and a boundary to make a 34-ball 43 before he was caught by Shakib off Alauddin Babu. The young paceman captured another important wicket, that of Sri Lankan Indika De Saram.
“It was not a bad total to defend in this kind of pitch. It's not easy to play shot there. I think bowlers were benefited more from this kind of condition,” said Shakib.
“It's a funny game,” he smilingly responded when asked how it felt to knock out the favourite team and especially when they were so ordinary in the league stage.
Mahela Udawatte and Mohammad Mithun made a bold reply but the former was lucky enough as Farid Uddin Masud dropped him off Forhad when he was on six.
The opening pair added 38 runs before Mithun was caught by Salahuddin of Mashrafe but Imrul Kayes joined Udawatte and batted cautiously during his 46-ball 38 that contained three fours.
Udawatte became the second victim of a poor decision when television replays again showed that he was in when Forhad's throw from the edge of the circle hit the stumps at the bowler's end.
Sultans of Sylhet then returned to the match with tight bowling from spinners Kapali and Masud and they had to defend 19 runs from the last three overs.
Farhad however took away the initiatives by making a crucial 11-ball 15 that saw two valuable boundaries.
Sylhet skipper Mashrafe however rued over his team's poor fielding effort.
“It would have been fantastic if we could managed 20 more runs but still 131 was also not a bad total in this kind of surface. Actually we dropped a few chances and our ground fielding was also poor,” explained Mashrafe.
There was however every reason for the Narail Express to be happy with his own performance in the tournament ahead of the World Cup as he made an unbeaten run-a-ball 15 and then took two wickets.
“It was a good tournament from a personal point of view,” said Mashrafe, who played a full tournament for the first time after recovering from a knee injury.

SCORES IN BRIEF
SULTANS OF SYLHET: 131-8 in 20 overs (Dhiman 18, De Saram 22, Forhad 43, Mashrafe 15*; Zoysa 2-16, Alauddin 2-32).
KINGS OF KHULNA: 134-4 in 19.4 overs (Mithun 21, Udawatte 38, Kayes 38, Farhad 15*; Mashrafe 2-26).
Result: Kings of Khulna won by six wickets.
Man-of-the-match: Mahela Udawatte.