Sylhet comfortably beat Khulna to seal top-two position

Mashrafe Bin Mortaza-led Sylhet Strikers had already booked their place in the playoffs. All they needed to do against Khulna Tigers was to beat them and ensure their place in the top two for extra safety in the playoffs. Mashrafe's side did that quite comfortably, beating Khulna by six wickets even though their skipper didn't bowl a single over in the match. They finished the group stage with 18 points from their 12 matches.

The ongoing Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) have seen some high-scoring matches in the group stage. But ever since the four teams booked their place in the playoffs, the BPL somehow returned to the good old low-scoring matches. And Tuesday was no different. 

Sylhet were all over Khulna right from the word go. Khulna lost a couple of early wickets and were reduced to 21/3 in the sixth over. Imad Wasim, Rubel Hossain and Tanzim Hossain Sakib all shared their fair share of wickets with the ball. 

Sakib picked up three wickets while Imad and Rubell bagged a brace each. Mohammad Amir was a tad expensive giving away eight runs per over for his only wicket. 

Mahmudul Hasan Joy played a 41-run innings from 41 balls but that was never going to be enough. He struck two sixes off Amir which probably was the highlight of Khulna's innings. 

Nahidul Islam played 1 22-run cameo of 17 balls. 

Chasing 114 was a walk in the park for Sylhet who have been on top of the table from the very beginning. 

They lost both their openers - Towhid Hridoy and Najmul Hossain Shanto - early in the chase but Zakir Hasan and Mushfiqur Rahim's 90-run partnership sealed the match for Sylhet. The duo batted sensibly with the latter guiding his younger partner through the tricky early stages and once both were set, runs were flowing from both ends. 

Zakir scored a fifty off 46 balls hitting five boundaries and one maximum. Mushfiqur Rahim supported him well playing a 39-run knock of 35 balls. 

They fell in the same over but by then, the game was all but done.

Imad Wasim was adjudged the player of the match for his magnificent spell of 4-0-10-2.

Sylhet skipper Mashrafe said finishing in the top-two feels good for the whole team. He also mentioned the team will miss Imad and Amir as they will be flying home for PSL. 

"It is a good win. Finishing in the top-two is a good feeling. There is still a niggle for me, it will take time. Trying my best. It's going to be difficult because bowlers like Imad and Amir are so good, we're going to miss them for sure. We struggled last game without them. It's difficult for them with PSL starting but need to move on and try to cope with it," Mashrafe said at the post-match presentation.

Khulna have only two wins to their name and the team's captain Shai Hope said the players let themselves down. 

"We let ourselves down. We did fight a bit with the ball but the batters didn't pull up their socks. It was a good pitch, don't think it wasn't much about the pitch. We just didn't execute well. Yes, our fast bowlers did well, got some swing upfront with the new ball," Hope said.