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MATCH SUMMARY
Khulna Tigers, batting first - 129 runs for the loss of 8 wickets in their 20 overs; Sikandar Raza 64 (50) Minister Group Dhaka, batting second - 131 runs for the loss of 5 wickets in 19.2 overs; Mahmudullah 34 (36)
Minister Group Dhaka beat Khulna Tigers by 5 wickets.
Player of the Match: Arafat Sunny [3-1-15-2]
It should have been a much more comfortable win for Minister Group Dhaka than what it turned out to be, but Shuvagata Hom's back-to-back sixes off the first two balls of the last over of the match, in a high pressure situation, gave Mahmudullah's team a much-needed victory to stay in the hunt for a place in the play-offs! Minister Group Dhaka now are 3rd in the standings with 9 points and a match to play.
Khulna Tigers bowled extremely well throughout the 2nd innings to take the match right down to the wire. The initial wickets of Tamim Iqbal and Imranuzzaman gave Mushfiqur Rahim's side the kind of start they were looking for. Nabil Samad was excellent, giving away only 10 runs off his 4 overs, that too with the new ball!
But the partnership of Jahurul Islam and Mahmudullah wrested the initiative back for Dhaka as the skipper's sensible batting and his partner's calculated risks were working really well.
The wicket of Jahuhul brought in Shamsur Rahman, who took the bowling on and made life even easier for Minister Group Dhaka with his big hits. But then came two similar dismissals of Mahmudullah and Shamsur, both off Thisara Perera's bowling, that suddenly pegged the batting side back. The state of the match was such that off the last over, 11 runs were required, with the odds in favour of Khulna Tigers.
But Shuvagata Hom's heroics ensured that there was no further addition to the drama. The Khulna fielding was good on the whole, with some moments of brilliance, but a few misfields, a difficult drop catch and a relay catch that was not to be, turned out to be costly for them.
In the 1st innings, Arafat Sunny was brilliant, bowling a double-wicket maiden and making things very difficult for Khulna to get the runs coming. All the bowlers chipped in with handy overs and did not let the batting cut loose at any stage, by taking wickets at regular intervals. One Sikandar Raza special innings was the only question to which the bowling had no answer, but Khulna would have definitely liked to have score 10 more runs at the least, to make things more interesting.
Khulna Tigers are 4th on the table now, with two matches to play.
After a thrilling match from a beautiful evening at Sylhet, the pair of Prakhar and Bidipto bids you good bye! Do tune in to the last match at the Sylhet International Cricket stadium later on today to follow more of Sportskeeda's thorough coverage of the Bangladesh Premier League this season, as the tournament heats up, with places for the play-offs, up for grabs!
POST-MATCH PRESENTATION
Khulna Tigers captain, Mushfiqur Rahim: I thought it was a great game of cricket. We probably did not bat well up front but even 5 to 10 runs more could have made the match more interesting. The boys played extremely well to take the game close and I hope that we get 2 wins out of 2 coming up.
Player of the Match, Arafat Sunny: Having bowled according to plan made me feel very special. Those 2 wickets in my first over did indeed give the other bowlers a lot of motivation. I kept it on the stumps, bowled wicket-to-wicket and got my rewards.
Minister Group Dhaka captain, Mahmudullah: Definitely, a lot of relief after winning this game. We still have one more game to go, so we have to win that now and give ourselves every chance to qualify for the playoffs. I thought Shamsur Rahman was brilliant and Shuvagata Hom is a very handy player, which he proved with the bat today.
Shuvagata Hom wins it for Dhaka with two massive sixes under pressure! Minister Group Dhaka get over the line by 5 wickets with 4 balls to spare!
19.2 Thisara Perera to Shuvagata Hom, SIX! DONE AND DUSTED! Good length ball on off stump, Hom hammers the ball over extra-run for the second six and takes his team home with four balls to spare.
5 off 5! Wow! What a shot!
19.1 Thisara Perera to Shuvagata Hom, SIX! WHAT A SHOT! Full ball on off stump. Hom dances down the track and smacks the ball straight back over the bowler's head for a maximum!
Still cannot believe how the match came this far but now, Khulna are well in with a chance, in fact favourites at this stage to win! 11 to get off 6 balls!
19
overs
119/5score
0
1
0
1
1
1
runs
Shuvagata Hom*
6(7)
Azmatullah Omarzai
10(7)
Khaled Ahmed
1/29
18.6 Khaled Ahmed to Shuvagata Hom, 1 run, good length ball on off stump. Hom heaves the ball to deep mid-wicket just for a single.
Video
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T Iqbal
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Sylhet International Cricket Stadium
Shuvagata Hom
*
Khaled Ahmed
