Home ›› 21 Jan 2023 ›› Sport
Skipper Yasir Ali Chowdhury produced a great cameo on Friday as his unbeaten innings of 36 runs off just 17 balls helped Khulna Tigers achieve their second victory of the ongoing ninth edition of the Bangladesh Premier League as they beat Chattogram Challengers by seven wickets.
For Chattogram Challengers, their bout at their home venue in Chattogram came to a disappointing end after yet another defeat at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium, where they have lost three out of four matches this season.
For Khulna, it was their second victory on the trot as they finally seem to gain some momentum heading back to Dhaka.
Batting first, Chattogram put on a 157-9 on board, which at that point seemed a fighting total.
And despite a 104-run stand between Tamim Iqbal and Mahmudul Hasan Joy for the second wicket after opener Munim Shahriar was gone for a duck, Chattogram were in the game until Yasir walked in.
With 34 required off the last three overs, the Khulna skipper took on veteran all-rounder Farhad Reza and smashed him for two sixes and a four within the first three balls, which led to the equation being brought down to 15 off the last two overs. In the next over, Yasir hit a six off Mehedi Hasan Rana to ensure that no jitters came in, and then smashed Nihaduzzaman for another in the second ball of the final over to ensure their win.
After the match, Yasir said that he had the belief that if he was there, they could win the match.
“It is about doing the simple things right. Today, Tamim bhai and Joy did very well, and I also did something right. The wicket was not easy for the new batter, so I didn’t want to throw it away. I knew if me and Azam Khan hanged around, we could make it up,” he said.
His counterpart, Shuvagata Hom, was left ruing a below-par score.
“Not a good enough score, we were 15-20 runs short. We had chances, and our bowlers did well but death overs weren’t good enough. We need to improve ourselves and do better next time,” he said.
Earlier, batting first, Chattogram suffered an early setback as opener Max O’Dowd (6) was out in the second over to Mohammad Saifuddin.
But a 70-run stand between Usman Khan, who hit a match-winning century in the reverse fixture, and Afif Hossain ensured that Chattogram had the base for a big score before the former was dismissed for 45 off 31 balls by Amad Butt. Afif (35) was then carrying the work on with Darwish Rasooli before Wahab Riaz came in and dismissed the left-handed Bangladesh batter and Khawaja Nafey (5) in the same over.
From there, it was a collapse as Chattogram were reduced to 131-6 soon, and it was only a cameo from Reza, who scored 21 off nine balls hitting two fours and a six, that took Chattogram to 157.
Wahab was the star of the show with the ball for Khulna as he picked up four wickets, with Saifuddin picking up a couple.
In reply, Chattogram skipper Shuvagata brought them a great start as he got rid of Munim for a duck in the first over, but a big partnership between Tamim and Mahmudul ensured that Khulna were never off the race.
The latter picked up his first fifty of the tournament in his second match before getting out on 59 off 44 balls, while Tamim scored 44 off 37 balls.
From there, skipper Yasir and Azam Khan ensured that Khulna found their two points to take their tally to four.
