Sixers and Sylhet disappoint, Khulna bag first win
After a mostly underwhelming first leg on slow and low Dhaka wickets, there was hope that things would liven up when the Bangladesh Premier League moved to the Sylhet International Cricket Stadium, where the pitch was expected to offer more runs. But the wicket disappointed almost as much as Sylhet Sixers did when they were shot out for 68 during an eight-wicket defeat at the hands of Comilla Victorians last night.
It was Comilla off-spinner Mahedi Hasan's four-wicket haul that dragged the rug from under the home team's feet. The 24-year-old broke the spine of Sylhet's batting by dismissing Andre Fletcher, skipper David Warner and Afif Hossain in the second over. Sylhet fell to 22 for seven by the eighth over and only an unbeaten 33 from local boy Alok Kapali -- the only double-digit score -- averted record embarrassment.
In the day game, the first of the Sylhet leg, Khulna finally unearthed some mojo from a wicket that took turn and earned their first success of the season with a 25-run win over Rajshahi Kings yesterday.
Left-arm spinner Taijul Islam -- a Bangladesh Test specialist -- was the outstanding performer with three wickets for just 10 runs from four overs as Rajshahi were bowled out for 103 in 19.5 overs after Khulna scored what earlier seemed to be a below-par 128 for nine -- the lowest total successfully defended in this edition.
After winning the toss, Khulna lost the wickets of openers Jahurul Islam and Junaid Siddique, but the former with a 13-ball six had provided a fast start that Junaid and Dawid Malan maintained for the first six Powerplay overs, which ended with the score on 44 for two. The eight overs after Junaid's dismissal in the fifth over produced no boundaries for Khulna, but gave Rajshahi the wickets of Dawid -- trapped in front by Mehedi Hasan Miraz in the eighth -- and Mahmudullah Riyad, caught at deep midwicket in the 11th over off Arafat Sunny. By then, with the score on 65 for four, they seemed to realise that a moderate score on the wicket would be a challenging one and played accordingly. Nazmul Hossain Shanto was run out in the 13th over and Carlos Brathwaite, after breaking the boundary drought, was trapped in front by Arafat Sunny in the same over.
From 82 for six, Ariful Haque played the most valuable hand of the match -- a 27-ball 26 which lifted the score above the 120-mark. In between, Isuru Udana picked up David Weise and Mustafizur Rahman ensured that there would be no late flourish in the last over, conceding just three runs while getting Ariful caught and brilliantly running out Taijul Islam with a direct hit.
Rajshahi, however, failed to take the lessons from the wicket and were guilty of playing too many shots at the start. Laurie Evans departed off the fourth ball, pulling Junaid Khan straight to mid on and Mehedi signalled his intentions with a first-ball six over point. A 29-run second-wicket partnership between Mehedi and Mominul Haque was the best it got for the Kings, and Mahmudullah Riyad trapping Mominul Haque started the rot. Taijul then dispatched Mehedi, Soumya Sarkar and Ryan ten Doeschate and Mahmudullah accounted for Zakir Hasan to have Rajshahi reeling on 55 for six in 12th over. Junaid Khan and Weise then did the rest as the Kings surrendered meekly.
In the evening match, at 22 for seven, Sylhet were on the verge of the lowest ever T20 score as they were still seven shy of Tripura's 30 all out against Jharkand in 2009. Kapali however ensured that no such embarrassment occurred as he took them past that mark and also 39 -- the lowest score on Bangladesh soil 'achieved' by the Netherlands against Sri Lanka in the 2014 World Twenty20 -- and 44, the lowest ever BPL score recorded by Khulna Titans against Rangpur Riders in 2016.
But it was of course not enough, and despite both Comilla openers Tamim Iqbal and Anamul Haque being removed for ducks, skipper Imrul Kayes and Shamsur Rahman took the team home with 77 balls to spare.
SCORES IN BRIEF
KHULNA TITANS v RAJSHAHI KINGS
KHULNA: 128 for 9 in 20 overs (Ariful 26, Malan 15; Udana 2-36, Mehedi 2-21, Arafat 2-25)
RAJSHAHI: 103 all out in 19.5 overs (Mehedi 23, Arafat 15; Taijul 3-10, Junaid 3-26, Mahmudullah 2-12)
Result: Khulna won by 25 runs.
Player-of-the-match: Taijul Islam
SCORES IN BRIEF
SYLHET SIXERS v COMILLA VICTORIANS
SYLHET: 68 all out in 14.5 overs (Kapali 33 not out; Mahedi 4-22, Ria 3-15, Dawson 2-4)
COMILLA: 69 for 2 in 11.1 overs (Shamsur 34 not out, Imrul 30 not out; Tanvir 1-10)
Result: Comilla won by 8 wickets.
Player-of-the-match: Mahedi Hasan.
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