Riding on a brilliant century by Graham Clark, Chittagong Kings cruised to a 45-run victory over Khulna Tigers to continue their winning run in the Bangladesh Premier League Twenty20 2024-25 season at Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chittagong Thursday.
English recruit Clark became the sixth batter this season to hit a century.
Before getting dismissed, he hammered a 50-ball 101 with seven fours and half a dozen sixes.
His knock helped the home side put on a respectable 200/7, a total that proved to be too hot to handle for Khulna, who were eventually restricted to 155/9.
Khulna have now lost four straight matches after winning the first two.
This was, in contrast, Chittagong’s fourth victory in fifth attempt after losing their opener against Khulna.
Opener Parvez Hossain Emon made next-best 29-ball 39 to play second fiddle to Clark.
In-form Usman Khan was out for only 10 as the port city outfit made a shaky start after being sent in to bat first.
But Clark and Emon added 128 runs for the second wicket to bring the home side back into the contest.
The partnership was broken when Mohammad Nawaz got the better of Emon.
However, even at that stage the Kings appeared well on their way to go past 200 with relative ease.
Khulna came back into the game strongly after Salman Irshad dismissed Clark right after he reached his second century in T20s.
After Clark’s departure, the hosts could add 32 runs in the last four overs to reach the 200-run mark with some hardship.
Pakistani recruits Irshad and Nawaz bagged three wickets apiece.
Khulna’s meek surrender was confirmed when they were reduced to 42/3, losing the likes of Mohammad Naim (nine), Dom Sibley (three) and captain Mehedi Hasan Miraz (19).
The middle-order could not stand tall with Afif Hossain and Darwish Rasooli failing to convert their starts into big ones.
Rasooli top-scored with 37 while Afif was out for 20.
Nawaz later added 25 to only reduce the margin of defeat.
22ND MATCH
Chittagong Kings 200/7 (Clark 101, Nawaz 3/29) beat Khulna Tigers 155/9 (Rasooli 37, Arafat 3/25) by 45 runs
