Fletcher, Mushfiq seal easy win for Khulna

Andre Fletcher’s half-century and skipper Mushfiqur Rahim’s responsible knock powered Khulna Tigers to a comfortable six-wicket win over Chattogram Challengers in the opening game of the Chattogram phase of the eighth Bangladesh Premier League on Friday.

Fletcher made 58 off 47 balls while Mushfiq remained unbeaten on 44 off 30 balls to take Khulna to 144-4 in 18.5 overs at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium. Captain Mehidy Hasan struck twice while Nasum Ahmed and Shoriful Islam took one wicket each for Chattogram Earlier, Afif Hossain made 44 off 37 deliveries while Will Jacks (28 off 23 balls) and Naeem Islam (25 not out off 19 balls) made some useful contribution but the middle-order’s failure kept them restricted to a modest 143-8 in their 20 overs. Thisara Perera was Khulna’s star bowler, claiming 3-18 in his four overs while five other bowlers claimed one wicket each. With the result, Khulna and Chattogram swapped places in the points-table, with Mushfiq’s side climbing up to second position while the port city side slid to third spot. Sent to bat, Chattogram looked on their way to score a challenging total, reaching 57-1 after eight overs with well-set Jacks and Afif unbeaten at the crease on 27 and 26 respectively. But the Khulna bowlers then staged a fight back by claiming five wickets in space of 36 deliveries were they conceded just 27 runs. Naeem singlehandedly pushed Chattogram’s total over 140 with a six and a four off the last two balls of the innings bowled by Kamrul Islam but it wasn’t good enough in the end. 

Chasing a modest total, Soumya Sarkar, who missed out the Dhaka leg due to Covid-19 infection, departed for just one. His fellow opener Fletcher stayed on and formed two decent partnerships with Rony Talukdar (17 off 18 balls) and Mushfiq accounting for 50 and 46 runs respectively. Fletcher departed off Mehidy in the 15th over with Khulna needing another 46 runs off 34 balls. But Sekugge Prasanna quashed any chance of a late twist with a cameo innings of 23 off 15 balls with one four and two sixes while Mushfiq remained undeterred at the other end. Prasanna departed off Mehidy with scores on level and skipper Mushfiq took the winning run to seal their second win in three games. Afif top-scored for Khulna with 44 off 37 balls, but he couldn't convert his start into something more significant. Towards the end, the veteran Naeem Islam struck a six and two fours in his unbeaten 19-ball 25. Apart from Perera's three-for, there was one wicket each for all the other five bowlers Khulna deployed. After two middling innings in his three previous knocks, Chattogram's Sabbir Rahman only made four in this game. Howell too missed out with the bat and ball for the first time in the tournament, after making a big impact in Chattogram's first three matches.