Table-toppers Khulna Titans defeated Comilla Victorians by 13 runs in their Bangladesh Premier League Twenty20 2016-17 clash in Mirpur’s Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium on Sunday.
This is Khulna's third win in four matches. On the other hand, defending champions Comilla suffered their third defeat in as many games.
Chasing the target of 145, Comilla opening batsman Liton Kumar Das started aggressively as he hit two consecutive boundaries off the second and third balls of the innings. But Khulna’s opening bowler Shuvagata Hom struck immediately as he took the wicket of Liton in the fifth ball of the same over.
Imrul Kayes hit a couple of sixes during his 21-run knock but Khulna pacer Junaid Khan cleaned him up in the fifth over.
Comilla lost regular wickets from there as the Khulna bowlers bowled in a very good channel.
Shafiul Islam clean bowled top-scorer Marlon Samuels (30) in the 14th over, thus ending any hopes Comilla had of securing their first victory in the fourth edition.
Shafiul and Junaid bagged two wickets each while Shuvagata, Mosharraf Hossain and Kevon Cooper took one apiece.
Earlier, Comilla captain Mashrafe bin Mortaza had won the toss and elected to field first. Comilla picked Afghanistan leg-spinner Rashid Khan in place of Pakistan's Imad Wasim.
Khulna also dropped Riki Wessels and selected West Indies wicketkeeper-batsman Andre Fletcher. Fletcher opened the innings for Khulna alongside Hasanuzzaman and they made a decent start.
Comilla captain Mashrafe bin Mortaza celebrates one of his three wickets with teammates
DHAKA TRIBUNEKhulna lost their first wicket in the fifth over when Fletcher was caught by Imrul Kayes off the bowling of Mashrafe. Fletcher scored 23 from 17 balls with three fours and one six.
The other opener Hasanuzzmaan was impressive at the other end as the right-hander scored 37 off 30 balls with the help of half a dozen boundaries. He eventually got out in the 13th over by a good delivery from Mashrafe.
Mahmudullah (11) and Nicholas Pooran (12) got starts but were unable to score big in the middle-order.
Khulna however, could not capitalise on the good start provided by the top order as they slipped from 92/1 in 10 overs to 144/9.
Sohail Tanvir was the star performer for Comilla with three wickets while Mashrafe also bagged as many.
BRIEF SCOREComilla Victorians 131/9 (Samuels 30, Imrul 21, Tanvir 21*, Shafiul 2/19, Junaid 2/24) lost to
Khulna Titans 144/9 (Hasanuzzaman 37, Fletcher 23, Tanvir 3/19, Mashrafe 3/26, Shanto 2/9)
by 13 runsPOINTS TABLETeams Matches Won Lost
PtsKT 4 3 1 0 0
6DD 3 2 1 0 0
4RR 3 2 1 0 0
4BB 3 2 1 0 0
4RK 3 1 2 0 0
2CHV 3 1 2 0 0
2CV 3 0 3 0 0
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