Khulna Tigers broke their six-match losing streak on Friday to clinch a thrilling six-wicket victory over Fortune Barishal to end with a consolation win.
Mahmudul Hasan Joy kept the Khulna innings together while chasing 170 as he scored an unbeaten 64 off 43 balls, hitting five fours and two sixes, but it was Habibur Rahman Sohan, playing his first match of the season, who was the hero of the match with his incredible cameo of 30 runs from nine balls, where he hit two fours and three sixes.
Batting first, Barishal posted 169-8, mainly courtesy of their newest recruit Dwaine Pretorius, who top-scored with 48. He was supported by Anamul Haque’s 28, Shakib Al Hasan’s 22, and Ibrahim Zadran’s 21.
For Khulna, Mohammad Saif Uddin was the star of the show as the pacer claimed four wickets for 20 runs, including three in the final over of the innings.
In reply, Khulna put Sabbir Rahman (2) up top but it did not pay off as Pretorius got rid of him in the third over, and then a brief 35-run partnership between Andrew Balbirnie (37) and Shai Hope (15) was broken between Chaturanga de Silva in the eighth over as he dismissed the latter. Balbirnie was sent back by Syed Khaled Ahmed in the 11th over.
But a 55-run partnership between Mahmudul and Yasir Ali Chowdhury (13) kept Khulna in the game as they inched closer to the result. The latter was only dismissed due to a curious run out after he tried to take a run following a misfield to which Mahmudul showed no interest, and thus was dismissed.
Mahmudul reached his fifty off 35 balls and then kept on going, and with Habibur’s cameo, they brought it down to nine from the last over.
Mehidy Hasan Miraz, the skipper for Barishal on the day, came to bowl the last over. The first ball was a single and on the second ball, Habibur hit it in the air and it was a dolly for Salman Hossain in the deep. But the fielder not only dropped it but also pushed towards the rope to make it four needed off four.
And on the final delivery, Habibur smashed it out of the ground to ensure a win by six wickets with three balls in hand.
