SK Play of the Day: Mahmudullah takes 3 wickets in the final over of the match to deny Chittagong Vikings victory

Mahmudullah was on fire against the Chittagong Vikings. Photo credits: Espn Cricinfo

“Oh how I love this game!” screamed Danny Morrison as the cricketing fraternity witnessed yet another thriller in the Bangladesh Premier League, and once again, it was that man, Mahmudallah at the helm of it all.

As the star-studded Chittagong Vikings needed 6 runs in the final over of the match with 4 wickets in hand, Mohammad Nabi, who was batting on 39 from 21 deliveries, was looking to guide his team to victory, but the Khula Titans captain had other ideas in mind.

As he came on to bowl the final over of the match, he was hoping to repeat his heroics of the first match his team played in the tournament where he picked up 3 wickets in the final over and defended six runs against the Rajshahi Kings.

They say lightning doesn’t strike twice but it sure did this around as Nabi smashed the final ball to the fielder at short mid-wicket. Mahmudallah had repeated the exact same feat to ensure a dramatic victory for the Titans.

His first victim was Chaturanga De Silva who was got out to a wider delivery in the second ball of the over as he nicked it to the keeper Pooran. Two balls later, it was Abdur Razzak’s turn.  Mahmudallah bowled one fuller outside off stump and as Razzak cleared his front leg and went for an almighty heave, he didn’t get the requisite connection and skied it towards long-off.  With 5 runs needed off the final two deliveries, the in-form Nabi wasn’t able to finish it off.

Earlier in the day, the Khulna Titans were put into bat by the Vikings on a pitch which proved to provide a lot of assistance to the bowlers.  Mohammad Nabi caused a lot of trouble to the Vikings batsmen by taking quick wickets and not allowing them to settle down at the crease. Riki Wessels, Nicholas Pooran, Alok Kapali and Ariful Haque chipped in with worthy contributions as the Titans managed 127 in their allotted overs.

As the Vikings came out to bat, they looked in all sorts of trouble as Kevon Cooper and Shafiul Aslam ran riot as they picked up a combined six wickets amongst themselves. However, a late surge by Mohammad Nabi and Jahurul Islam got the Vikings right back into the game and were on course to victory but were stopped by an inspired Titans side led by their captain Mahmudullah.

With this victory, the Khulna Titans move to second in the table as the Vikings slipped to fifth, with the Rangpur Riders still on top with a game in hand.