Soumya Sarkar’s all-round performance and Mushfiqur Rahim’s half century helped Khulna Tigers beat Sylhet Sunrisers by 15 runs in their Bangabandhu Bangladesh Premier League Twenty20 2022 match at Sylhet International Cricket Stadium Monday.
Soumya scored unbeaten 82 off 62 while Mushfiq made undefeated 62 off 38 as the unbroken duo registered the best fourth wicket stand in BPL 2022.
Their 136-run stand off just 84 balls took Khulna to 182/3 before the struggling Sylhet managed only 167/6 chasing the total.
After losing the toss Khulna got off to a poor start as hard hitter Andre Fletcher was run out in the second ball of the first over before Mahedi Hasan was dismissed the next delivery.
Soumya and Yasir Ali however, continued the onslaught before the latter was dismissed on 23 off 18 in the final ball of the sixth over.
That brought the experienced Mushfiq in the crease and along with Soumya he bossed the Sylhet bowlers.
The diminutive man struck four fours and two sixes while Soumya struck four fours and same number of sixes.
In reply Sylhet made a steady start as their openers Lendl Simmons and Anamul Haque accumulated 41 runs before the former was dismissed for 10 off 17.
Anamul was dismissed for 47 in the 11th over when the score was 70 and his fall initiated a collapse as Sylhet lost two of their important batsmen - Mohammad Mithun and captain Ravi Bopara - in quick time to get reduced to 73/4 in the 13th over.
Mosaddek Hossain, who remained not out on 39, tried to keep the chase alive with a 58-run stand with Colin Ingram (37) but when the latter was out in the 18th over the equation was so tough even three consecutive sixes of Alauddin Babu in the final over could only excite the television commentator and reduce the defeat margin.
Soumya and Thisara Perera got two wickets each for Khulna.
