Rana routes Barishal to fortune

Mehedi Hasan Rana picked up three wickets in one over to hand Fortune Barishal a much-needed victory against Khulna Tigers at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chattogram on Saturday.

Rana, playing his first BPL game of the season, outshined big names of T20 cricket like Chris Gayle, Shakib Al Hasan and Mujeeb-ur-Rahman to earn his career-best bowling figure, 3-0-17-4.

In the battle between two former BKSP students, Shakib and Mushfiqur Rahim, the latter won the first bout as he won the toss and send Shakib’s Barishal to bat.

Barishal, struggling to find the right combination, sent Jake Lintott to open the innings, though the gamble did not work. Lintott scored 11 runs from six balls, and Ziaur Rahman, sent at number three as a pinch-hitter, also failed to impress as he was out for only 10. Nurul Hasan, Nazmul Hossain and Towhid Hridoy- all the youngsters were put to bat ahead of Shakib but none could not last long. Shakib (9) was also out cheaply.

Altogether, Barishal managed 141-9 in 20 overs, which was enough to earn them their second victory as Khulna were all-out for 124.

Khulna’s batting has been largely fueled by Andre Fletcher and Thisara Perera, but the foreigner duo failed to produce anything significant on Saturday.

Mushfiq, very dependable in Test and ODIs, might not be so in T20s as he attempted a scoop shot when the team needed him badly and ended up giving a catch to the keeper.

Khulna needed 21 runs from 12 balls before the start of Rana’s third over, a gettable situation.

But Rana made things hard. In the first ball, Mushfiq was dropped, but in the next ball, Farhad Reza was given out LBW. In the fifth ball, Rana rattled the stumps of Sharifullah and in the last ball, Mushfiq was out trying to play a scoop and ended up giving a catch to Nurul Hasan.