Sylhet clinch thriller to stay top

Sylhet Strikers won their nail-biting clash against Fortune Barishal by just two runs to ensure that they held on to their top spot in the ongoing Bangladesh Premier League on Wednesday.

Both sides came to the tie with 10 points in their bag and the winner would claim the top spot after seven games. Barishal were the in-form side with five consecutive matches, but they suffered their second defeat to Sylhet this season and thus lost the chance to go top.

Sylhet, though, seemed like were losing it early as Barishal’s Pakistani pacer Mohammad Wasim Jr ripped through their top-order in the second over to dismiss Zakir Hasan (0), Towhid Hridoy (4), and Mushfiqur Rahim (0).

But from there, opener Najmul Hossain Shanto played a brilliant knock, where he had to start slow because of the collapse at the other end, but covered it up in the end to ensure that his team got a strong total of 173-5.

Najmul took 48 balls to reach his fifty but ended unbeaten on 89 off 66 balls hitting 11 fours and a six, meaning he scored his last 37 runs off just 18 balls.

Considering Barishal’s batting form this season, it seemed like they would be able to chase the total down, but Najmul said they were confident of the score they put on.

“We were very happy with the score, considering the situation we were in early on. We did not hope for 170 at the start. We considered it enough. Even if we scored 140, we would have considered it enough,” he said in the post-match press conference.

Chasing the total, Barishal got off to a great start as Saif Hassan smashed four sixes to score 31 off 19 balls. After he and Anamul Haque was dismissed, a 61-run stand between Shakib Al Hasan and Ibrahim Zadran kept Barishal on track, before Rejaur Rahman Raja got rid of them both.

Still, Barishal were on track until the 16th over as they needed 42 runs from the last four overs.

But then came Mohammad Amir and bowled a brilliant over giving away one run with Karim Janat giving away five dots, which pacer Khaled Ahmed touted as their reason for defeat.

“We lost the match when Amir bowled five dot balls to Karim. We also probably gave away 15 runs too many,” the Barishal pacer said after the match.

But an expensive 18th over from Tanzim Hasan Sakib, where Barishal took 18 runs, tilted the match towards them once again, with 23 required from the last two overs.

And then, Amir starred again as he gave away just eight runs, leaving Raja with 15 runs to defend.

While Mohammad Wasim managed to hit a six and a four in the last two deliveries, it was too little too late after Iftikhar Ahmed was gone in the first ball and Mehidy Hasan Miraz in the second, handing Sylhet a two-run win.