Sylhet Sixers opener Upal Tharanga plays a shot during their Bangladesh Premier League match against Rajshahi Kings at the Sylhet International Cricket Stadium on Tuesday. — Sourav Losker
Hosts Sylhet Sixers continued their blistering form in the fifth Bangladesh Premier League securing their third successive win over Rajshahi Kings by 33 runs at Sylhet International Cricket Stadium on Tuesday.
Upal Tharanga and Andre Fletcher set up the win once again with a 101-run opening stand that helped Sylhet post 205-6 before their bowlers restricted Rajshahi to 172-8 runs.
Tharanga struck 50 off 37 balls, his third fifty in as many matches, while Fletcher added 48 off 30 balls as Sylhet made a rollicking start after being sent to bat first.
Man-of-the-match Danushka Gunathilaka took full advantage of solid platform scoring 42 off just 22 balls, which included two balls and three fours.
Ross Whiteley hit a late cameo of unbeaten 25 off 12 balls to take Sylhet past Dhaka Dynamites 202-7 to post the highest team total in the ongoing BPL.
Chasing the mammoth total, Mominul Haque and Luke Wright gave Rajshahi a positive start taking them to 50-run mark in little over five overs before Mominul fell for 24 off 16 balls.
Rony Talukdar, Rajshahi’s top-scorer in the previous match, was out for a duck two balls later as Liam Plunkett made a double strike to bring Sylhet back into the contest and leave their fans jubilant.
Sylhet took the control in the game once Abul Hassan made another double strike, this time by removing Mushfiqur Rahim (11) and Samit Patel for a duck in the space of three balls to break the backbone of Rajshahi.
James Franklin joined Wright at the crease and both the overseas players added 54 runs for the fifth wicket before Wright was caught at the cow corner after scoring 56 runs off 39 balls with three fours and four sixes.
Rajshahi were still in the hunt as they needed 67 runs in the last four overs with skipper Darren Sammy and set batsman Franklin at the crease.
But Franklin’s run-out for 35 ended the game as contest.
Abul and Plunkett claimed three wickets each for Sylhet to play their part in the home side’s hat-trick of win.
Source: New Age
