Chattogram Cement Top Place Beating Khulna

Gazi Group Chattogram beat Gemcon Khulna in a dramatic way by three wickets on Tuesday to cement the top place in the points table of the ongoing Bangabandhu T20 Cup 2020.

Chattogram needed to score nine runs in the last over bowled by Al Amin Hossain. Mustafizur Rahman and Shamsur Rahman were at the crease to complete the task.

Mustafizur failed to score from the first ball but hit the second one for a four. There were two singles and one leg-bye in the next three balls. Chattogram needed two runs out of the last ball of the match, and Shamsur smashed Al Amin for six to seal the game by three wickets. Shamsur remained unbeaten at 45 off 30 balls with five fours and one six while Mustafizur was also unbeaten at five off four balls.

Chattogram ended up on 162 for seven in 20 overs while chasing the target of 158.

Before Shamsur’s late heroic, Soumya Sarkar (19), Mahmudul Hasan Joy (24), Mohammad Mithun (23) contributed well to ensure a win.

For Khulna, Shakib Al Hasan and Shuvagata Hom took two wickets each while Mashrafe Bin Mortaza, Al Amin and Hasan Mahmud took one wicket each.

Earlier, Chattogram lost the toss and sent Khulna to bat first who posted a challenging total of 157 runs. Despite losing the wickets on a regular basis, Khulna managed to post a 150-plus score riding on the bat of Shuvagata Hom who scored 32 off 14 with six fours and one six and remained unbeaten.

Jahurul Islam (26), Zakir Hasan (15), Shakib Al Hasan (15), Imrul Kayes (24), Mahmudullah Riyad (26) also contributed well with the bat.

For Chattogram, Shoriful Islam bagged three wickets conceding 34 runs while Mustafizur took two and Mosaddek Hossain and Ziaur Rahman took one wicket each.

With this game, Mashrafe Bin Mortaza, Bangladesh’s former captain, made a comeback to the competitive cricket after a long hiatus of nine months forced by Covid-19. Upon his return, Mashrafe bagged one wicket conceding 28 runs in four overs.

Despite losing this game, Khulna, like Chattogram, booked a place in the playoff of this event. While Chattogram secured 10 points from five wins out of six games they have played so far while Khulna secured eight points from four wins in seven games.