Sylhet Sunrisers needed 36 runs in the last over. Alauddin Babu died in a hurry in the ‘dead’ match, hitting Kamrul Islam 3-6 in the first 3 balls. But he could not take more than 1 run in the fourth ball, that was the thrill. Captain-drama, ball tampering is the last match of the debate so Jamal is not the end. The Khulna Tigers scored 162 runs in an innings of 72 off 72 balls by Soumya Sarkar and Mushfiqur Rahim scored 72 off 36 balls. 5 runs came from the penalty.
The effect of the dew on the Sylhet International Stadium at night was obvious, but Sylhet could not take advantage of it. They stopped at 16 and lost by 15 runs. Soumya had a great day with 2 wickets in bowling. A win at the end of that match, Sylhet’s hopes of a play-off were almost over. On the other hand, Mushfiqur’s Khulna has risen to the top three with 6 points in 6 matches.
The drama started before the match. Sylhet captain Ravi Bopara came to toss instead of Mosaddek Hossain. After Bopara’s ball tampering, Sylhet got a penalty. The day is not happening in Sylhet, maybe all this hinted at that. But after winning the toss and fielding, they got off to a hopeful start, Khulna lost 2 wickets in the first over. Yasir Ali, who scored 23 off 18 balls, returned in the sixth over despite scoring 46 runs in the powerplay. Yasir was bowled in a great delivery by right-arm pacer AKS Swadhin, who was playing his first match in the BPL.
After that Sylhet was crushed by Saumya and Mushfiqur. The two made an unbroken partnership of 131 runs, with a penalty of 5 runs. This is the highest partnership for the fourth wicket in the BPL this season, the third highest for any wicket. Left-arm spinner Nazmul Islam, Sylhet’s most successful bowler of the season, was not bowled on the day, though he did field.
Soumya-Mushfiqur pair did not come any boundary in the first 3 overs. However, Ravi Bopara got involved in a ball tampering controversy when he came to bowl for the first time in the ninth over. The umpires changed the ball, Khulna was given a 5 run penalty. Mushfiqur-Soumya made 12 runs from Mosaddeq in the tenth over. 12 runs were scored in the next 2 overs, but Mushfiqur-Soumya climbed from then on.
Bopara, who made 40 off the first 36 balls, changed the rhythm by hitting six. Soumya, who scored 14 runs in the first 3 matches, made 43 off 31 balls in the previous match. Today he got the first half century of the season. He scored a half century off 43 balls and remained unbeaten in the end with 62 runs off 72 balls. He hit four fours and six sixes in the innings. Mushfiqur, who scored 16 off the first 18 balls, also showed the beginning of the aggression by hitting Alauddin Babu with four after six. The Khulna captain scored a half-century off 32 balls, hitting six fours and two sixes in an innings of 72 off 36 balls. Khulna scored 91 runs in the first 12 overs and scored 91 runs in the last 6 overs.
Lendl Simmons, the opening batsman of Sylhet, suffered while chasing the run. Nabil Samad made 10 runs off 18 balls before being caught in the last ball of Powerplay. Even then Enamul Haque scored 41 runs in the first 6 overs. After Enamul killed Mehedi Hasan in the seventh over, it seemed that Sylhet would not leave. After that, however, Enamul died, he made 42 runs from the first 22 balls, only 5 runs from the next 11 balls. Sylhet also lost to Mohammad Mithun and Bopara by 3 balls after Enamul was dismissed.
On the one hand, Colin Ingram survived, but he could not open his hands that way. When he was dismissed for 36 off 26 balls, Sylhet’s required run rate was above 16. In the end, Mosaddeq was unbeaten after playing an innings of 39 runs from 22 balls with those 3 sixes of Alauddin. But that was not enough.
