Sylhet hand Khulna third straight defeat to raise BPL playoffs hope

FE Team | Published: February 09, 2024 22:18:36

Sylhet Strikers raised the hope of playing the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) playoffs as one of the top four teams after a comprehensive five-wicket win over Khulna Tigers at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in the city on Friday, reports BSS.
The third and second straight victory still left them at sixth position in seven-team tournament but with six points at the kitty, Sylhet have six points in nine matches, they still can hope to have top-four finish. To make it materialise, they would have to keep the winning run.
Khulna which won first matches in a row, now saw the other side of the coin, losing third straight match. With eight points from seven matches, they are now in fourth spot.
Electing to bat first, Khulna posted 153-3, a score that Sylhet eased past in 19 overs, making 159-5.
Opener Harry Tector gave a solid start with 52 ball-61, hitting six fours and three sixes. Ryan Burl then gave the finishing touch with 16 bal-32 not, laced with one four and three sixes, which steered the side to the victory win one over to spare.
Tector's knock might look little slow but Burl's finish made it up impeccably.
Sylhet however didn't have a great start as they lost Samit Patel for 13 and Najmul Hossain Shanto for 18. In a bid to return to form, Shanto came down to No.3 position from opening spot but his fortune is yet to changed.
But with Irish recruit Tector steadily accumulating runs, Sylhet hardly felt the heat even though Zakir Hasan was out for duck to leave the side 65-3 in ninth over. Skipper Mohammad Mithun then shared 42-run with Tector before being out for 24.
Khulna further clawed back to the game thanks to Sumon Khan who dismissed Tector with Sylhet needing 19 runs in 12 balls still. However Burl scored the required runs in the next over, hammering Rubel Hossain 24 runs in an over.
Mark Deyal claimed 3-19 for Khulna but that mattered little.
Earlier Khulna rode on skipper Anamul Haque Bijoy's 67 not out and Habibur Rahman Sohan's 30 ball-43 not out. Bijoy played 58 balls for his 67, which eventually proved to be decisive in losing the match.
Even when Sohan was hitting cleanly at other end in death overs, Bijoy failed to give him the strike that was also instrumental in Khulna's defeat.
Khulna's top order also didn't fare well, which forced Bijoy to go slow.