Khulna Tigers needed 22 runs in the last three overs to win. In T20 cricket, this run is supposed to be insignificant. But what the Khulna batters did in the last three overs is unbelievable! Mehdi Hasan Miraj's team lost 6 wickets to get 13 runs in three overs! And that's why they lost the match they won incredibly. That too against teams like Rangpur Raiders. No team can beat Rangpur in the current BPL. In the previous match, Fortune Barisal missed the win despite getting a chance, today Khulna also missed the win. In the last three overs, Rangpur secured a victory by 8 runs due to the strength of the Rangpur bowlers.
On Monday (January 13) at the Sylhet International Cricket Stadium, Rangpur won the toss and batted first to score 186 runs. The team was on the way to victory in response. The team scored 137 runs after losing 3 wickets in 11 overs. Afif Hossain and Mahidul Islam combined for 28 runs in 14 balls for the fourth wicket. Afif got out and the pair broke up. After that, the procession of Khulna batters started.
After Afif got out in the first ball of the 18th over, Khulna could take four runs in that over. The target was 18 runs in the last two overs. Khulna took 6 runs after losing two wickets. As a result, 12 runs were required in the last over. In Saifuddin's over, the Khulna batters could not take the pressure. They lost three wickets in the last over with two run outs, could take 3 runs. And with that, Khulna's innings ended with 178 runs. Rangpur won the match by 8 runs and is at the top of the table with 14 points with seven wins out of seven. There is no party around Rangpur either.
Among the Rangpur bowlers, Akif Javed bowled well. Khulna's batsmen lost mainly due to his controlled bowling. His victim was three wickets for 29 runs. Apart from this, Mohammad Saifuddin and Mehdi Hasan took two wickets each. Nahid Rana could not handle the pressure of playing consecutive matches. This pacer was wicketless after spending 37 runs in 3 overs.
Earlier, he won the toss and started batting slowly. But they got off to a shaky start on the power play. Steven Taylor (13) and Saif Hasan (7) took the path of Sajghar to score 30 runs. Rangpur took a long time to handle the initial shock. At the end of 14 overs, their run was 105 for 3 wickets. From there, the rampage of two Pakistani batsmen Khushdil Shah and Iftikhar Ahmed started. 81 runs have been added to the team's collection in the last 6 overs. And at the end of 20 overs, Rangpur's capital is 186 for 5 wickets.
This batsman remained unbeaten on 73 runs off 35 balls with 4 fours and 6 sixes, showing the nightmare of the Khulna bowlers. And Iftikhar was trapped leg before after scoring 43 runs off Hasan Mahmud. In the fourth wicket, these two batsmen made a partnership of 115 runs off 57 balls. Rangpur got a challenging capital of 186 runs in their pair.
Two pacers Abu Haider Roni and Hasan Mahmud got maximum two wickets each for Khulna.
