Dhaka Dominators skipper Nasir Hossain provided an all-round performance on Saturday to ensure that his team got off to a winning start in the ninth edition of the Bangladesh Premier League as they beat Khulna Tigers by six wickets.
Nasir scored an unbeaten 36 off 36 balls alongside picking up a couple of wickets, which brought him the player of the match award.
Batting first, a struggling Khulna Tigers lineup could only manage 113-8 as Al-Amin Hossain picked up four wickets for Dhaka.
In reply, Dhaka lost opener, Ahmed Shahzad, early in the chase as he injured his arm during batting.
From there, Dilshan Munaweera and Soumya Sarkar (16) put together 31 runs before the latter perished playing a false shot to Wahab Riaz.
Munaweera (22) and Mohammad Mithun (8) were also dismissed soon, and it seemed like Khulna were clawing their way back into the game.
But a responsible innings from Nasir, with help from Usman Ghani (14), brought them the win in their opening game.
Earlier, Winning the toss, Dhaka skipper Nasir opted to field first and it proved to be a fruitful decision as Khulna lost Sharjeel Khan, Tamim Iqbal, and Munim Shahriar within the powerplay.
Following that collapse, Khulna could neither score quickly nor stop the landslide of wickets, and only a cameo from Wahab Riaz, who scored 10 from three balls, at the end took them to 113.
Khulna skipper Yasir Ali Chowdhury was the only batter to cross 20 for Khulna as he scored 24, with Mohammad Saifuddin scoring 19 and Pakistan recruit Azam Khan chipping in with 18.
