Home ›› 12 Feb 2022 ›› Sport
An all-round performance from Moeen Ali meant that Comilla Victorians beat Khulna Tigers by 65 runs on Friday to seal their place in the top two of the ongoing Bangladesh Premier League.
Comilla currently have 13 points from nine games, whereas Khulna sit fifth with eight points and are hanging on a thread to qualify for the play-offs.
Khulna will need to beat Comilla on Sunday and require either Minister Dhaka or Chattogram Challengers to lose to qualify for the play-offs.
In Comilla’s penultimate match of the league stage, Moeen came to all guns blazing as he scored 75 off just 35 deliveries to help them reach 188-60, hitting nine sixes and a four. Later on, he picked up two wickets for just 20 runs.
Moeen’s brilliance in the middle came after Liton Das’ fiery start. The opener scored 41 off just 17 deliveries, helping Comilla knick off 52 in the powerplay.
Moeen and Faf Du Plessis put together an 83-run stand for the fourth wicket, where the English all-rounder hit the Khulna bowlers all around the park to take his team to a massive total.
Thisara Perera took two wickets, with Nabil Samad, Khaled Ahmed, Shak Mahedi Hasan, and Soumya Sarkar picking up one.
In reply, Khulna were never in the battle as Mustafizur Rahman sent back openers Rony Talukdar and Andre Fletcher in back-to-back deliveries in the second over. Khulna failed to build partnerships and Comilla kept chipping in with wickets, leading to them being bowled out for 123.
Perera top-scored for Khulna with 26, with Soumya scoring 22. Abu Hider Rony picked up three wickets for Comilla, with Moeen, Mustafizur, and Nahidul picking up a couple each. Both sides will face off again today at 5:30 PM to decide Khulna’s fate in this BPL.
