Khulna Tigers make BPL's playoff race interesting with win over Durdanto Dhaka

It was the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) for the first time this season on a Friday in Chattogram's Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium and the crowd finally turned up to watch the cricket. 

And Khulna Tigers finally won a match after losing four in a row and kept their hopes of reaching the Playoffs alive.

They defeated Durdanto Dhaka, the only team eliminated from the 10th edition of the BPL, by five wickets and 30 balls to spare as Dhaka lost 10 games in a row.

The win makes the playoffs race interesting as Khulna are on 10 points along with Fortune Barishal and Chattogram Challengers at the time of writing and only net run rate separating the three teams. 

Chasing a target of 129 for victory, Khulna found themselves in a spot of bother at 17-2 when big-hitting West Indian Evin Lewis was out.

But then Parvez Hossain Emon (40 runs from 30 balls), Shai Hope (32 from 28 balls), and Afif Hossain (43 not out from 21 balls) guided Khula home with ease.

It was some much-needed hitting by Afif as he had been dropped from the national team's central contracts and will now need to let his bat do the talking to work his way back into the national team fold. 

Earlier in the day, Khulna bowled well to keep Dhaka to 128-7 in their 20 overs.

South African pacer Wayne Parnell was the star of the show for Khula as he prized out three top-order wickets and hit the winning runs to finish as the Player of the Match.

He dismissed the in-form Dhaka opener Mohammad Naim for just five runs from 11 balls along with Saif Hassan the very next delivery for a golden duck.

He would then go on to dismiss Adam Rosington in the 6th over for 18 off 12 balls and the left-arm pacer Parnell finished with figures of 3-17 in his four overs.

He was aided well by Mukidul Islam who also had three wickets later on as Dhaka's batters failed to build partnerships and make their starts count. 

Rossington, Alex Ross (25), Irfan Sukkur (25), Mosaddek Hossain (26), and Chaturanga de Silva (17) all got to double digits but couldn't make their starts count.    

After the match. Parnell was full of praise for Afif and spoke about how he "broke the back" of the opposition with his batting during the run chase. 

"Briliant innings. I've said it all along that he's one of Bangladesh's most talented batters. He plays all around the ground. It's about him to string consistent performances. The management and people supporting him need to ensure he can do that," Parnell said.

"I think it's a balance between being a stroke player and being defensive. The more he (Afif) plays the more he will figure it out. I think sometimes too much coaching can be a bad thing because you also want them to play their natural game. The first time I saw him was in 2018 with Sylhet Sixers and I saw him and I thought this kid is special. The goal for Bangladesh is to make him consistent. Once he gets the backing from the management, I think he will be more consistent," the left-arm pacer concluded.