Gazi Group Chattogram continued their dominance in the ongoing Bangabandhu T20 Cup beating Gemcon Khulna comprehensively by nine wickets, registering their second consecutive win in the days’ first fixture at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur yesterday.
Khulna’s heavyweight batting order failed for the third straight game in the tournament as they were bundled out for just 86 runs in 17.4 overs.
For Chattogram, it was left-arm seamer Mustafizur Rahman who bowled brilliantly to pick up four wickets while conceding just five runs. Apart from Mustafizur, spinners Nahidul Islam and Taijul Islam bagged two wickets each.
Chasing a small total, Chattogram openers Liton Das and Soumya Sarkar again remained clinical to guide through the chase without any sort of difficulties and reached the target with 6.2 overs to spare to hand Khulna their second defeat in three games.
The Chattogram opening pair added 73 runs which laid the foundation for an easy win. Even though Soumya departed for 26, Liton remained unbeaten on 53 off 46 balls with nine fours.
Shakib reached a milestone of 5000 runs in T20s with a single off Shoriful Islam’s delivery in the fourth over in his 312th shortest format game.
The star all-rounder, who had already scalped 355 wickets in T20s, also became the second player after West Indies all-rounder Dwayne Bravo to have reached the double of 5000 runs and 350 wickets in the format.
But Shakib could not make the game memorable on the day of reaching the milestone as he is yet to gain his rhythm with the bat for the third game in a row in the tournament. The 33-year-old miscued the next ball he faced and was caught by mid-on off a Nahidul delivery on three.
Things got worse for Khulna right from the start as Anamul Haque was run out after a huge mix-up with Shakib on six.
Imrul Kayes, who was yet to score a run in the tournament, came at number three and seemed to gain some rhythm. Skipper Mahmudullah Riyad also failed with the bat and was out for just one as Khulna kept losing wickets at regular intervals, with Imrul’s 21 being the highest score in the end.
SCORES IN BRIEF:
KHULNA: 86 all out in 17.5 overs (Kayes 21, Shakib 3, Mahmudullah 1; Mustafizur 4-5, Nahidul 2-15)
CHATTOGRAM: 87 for 1 in 13.4 overs (Liton 53 not out, Soumya 26, Mahmudullah 1-16, Shakib 0-14)
Result: Chattogram won by 9 wickets
