2024-02-09 21:08:29
No run from the first 7 balls. He caught the eighth ball at fine leg. Rubel Hossain, who came down to play for the first time in this season of BPL, took a catch. But Sylhet Strikers’ opener Harry Tector gave life by dropping the simplest catch. The Irishman, however, got life off the first ball as well. The spinner caught Nahidul at slip. Mahmudul Hasan could not collect the ball that came low.
Harry Tector was the hero of Sylhet’s third win with two wickets. Sylhet reached the target of 154 runs given by Khulna Tigers with 1 over in hand. Tector scored 61 runs off 52 balls with 6 fours and 3 sixes. However, the team could not leave the field after winning. There was some excitement towards the end of the match.
Sylhet needed 19 runs off the last ball. Rubel came to his second over and sank the team with 24 runs. Ryan Burl hit 3 sixes and 1 four in his over to secure the win for the team. Sylhet got the taste of the third victory in the ninth match by winning by 5 wickets. On the other hand, Khulna, who started the BPL brilliantly by winning four matches in a row, got the bitter taste of their third consecutive defeat.
Khulna did not start well after winning the toss and batting. Opener Evin Lewis returned to Sajghar for 12 runs off 10 balls. Afif, down for three, scored 24 runs off 16 balls with 3 fours and 1 six and was dismissed by Samit Patel. Mahmudul Hasan Joy could not catch the lead of the team. Sanjamul Islam got out for just 1 run. From there, Enamul Haque Vijay and Habibur Rahman Sohan increased Khulna’s innings.
They tied the pair from the ninth over of the innings, but the script of the match changed in the last 3 overs. Where Enamul and Habibur scored 51 runs together. Otherwise the scoreboard would look very faded. Habibur is the mastermind behind Khulna’s end of the innings. Shift gears and run at lightning speed. Rezaur Rahman hit Raja in the last over and Benny Howell in the 18th over for three sixes. Besides, in the last over Raja was ramped up by Reverge and collected two fours and a six.
Enamul wanted to fly the last ball. But could not match the timing. If they get a run from that ball, their pair’s run would have reached 100. Habibur left the crease as he was eager to score runs. This young batsman was run out. He scored 43 runs off 30 balls before returning to the dressing room. Where hit 3 sixes with 3 fours. Enamul remained unbeaten on 67 runs. Enamul reached the second fifty of BPL with 51 balls and took the team’s run to the top by picking up 16 runs in the next 7 balls.
Sanjamul Islam, Samit Patel and Benny Howell got 1 wicket each for Sylhet with the ball in hand.
Samit Patel got off to a good start with two sixes in the chase. But stopped at 13 runs by Nahidul. Shant could not come out of the circle of failure. He scored 18 runs off 16 balls with 3 boundaries. Zakir Hasan caught his second ball at long on for zero runs. The offspinner walled the two left-handed batsmen back in the same over. From there Tector and Mithun made a pair of 42 runs. Tector was playing his instincts to increase the score.
Mithun scored 24 runs off 19 balls with decent company. Khulna needed wickets. Deyal came to bowl his last over and got Sylhet captain Mithun stamped. Burl, who fell to six, then played the finishing role. Winners draw last in his bat. He scored 32 runs off 16 balls with 1 four and 3 sixes.
In the last ball of the 18th over, Tector caught Suman Khan at cover. Khulna camp got some life as the settled batsman got out. But in the next 6 balls, Rubel destroyed all their joy.
After sitting on the bench for six matches, Rubel squandered his first chance badly. He sank the team badly with 36 runs in 2 overs. In the last BPL final against Comilla Victorians, Sylhet was knocked out of the title race by 23 runs in an over. His list of such faded, innocuous bowling in slog overs is long.