Khulna Tigers raised their hope to advance to the knockout stage after defeating Duranta Dhaka by five wickets in the ongoing Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) cricket on Friday.
Duranto Dhaka likely to finish their BPL 2024 season as the bottom side of the table when they could manage only one win out of 11 matches they played to collect two points and they have just one match left to play.
After winning the match Khulna Tigers lift up their chances to qualify in the Playoff match but there are some difficult equations, they would have to win their last two matches and the rivals will have to suffer defeats.
Khulna Tigers after being asked to field first restricted Duranto Dhaka for only 128 runs when Wayne Parnell and Mukidul Islam looked on their pick when the medium pacers duo shared six wickets evenly.
However, held at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium, Chattogram, Duranto Dhaka decided to bat first after winning toss but could manage a paltry 128 runs for seven wickets and Khulna saw not too trouble to chase the ordinary target losing five wickets with 4.4 overs spare.
Duranta Dhaka, who just touched upon to appear one of the title contenders when they made sharp start with five wickets win over the holders and four times title winners of the BPL Comilla Victorians.
Duranto Dhaka, after winning their first match with full dominance over the reigning champions, could not keep up the approach in the next matches, as they suffered 10 matches in a row and they left one match to play.
However, on the day, Mosaddek Hossain, the captain of Dhaka elected to bat first after winning toss and lost two wickets for 18 runs with Proteas left-arm medium fast bowler Wayne Parnel struck back to back to pull out opener Mohammad Naim and the one down Saif Hassan for five and a duck.
But the third wicket stand Adam Rossington and Alex Ross, coming to rebuild the innings could add only nine runs as Rossington got out after scoring 18 runs. Then Irfan Sukur joined Alex Ross, though they were too slow, looked the partnership would go a far but the middle order bats were departed after scoring 35 runs from 37 deliveries.
Sukur scored 25 off 26 balls with three fours and a six before being caught by Mahmudul Hassan off Mukidul Islam. Alex Ross then got the captain at fourth wicket stand and this ttime also it looked that this partnership would bring the team to a respectable total but Parvej Hossain Emon sent back Alex with a direct throw or 25 runs off 35 balls.
Mosaddek attempted to lift the team with single handedly but when he was going to be danger, Mukidul Islam struck again to get out the captain. Mosaddek scored 26 off 23 balls with a four and a six.
Wayne Parnell and Mukidul Islam struck in a regular interval as none of the Duranto Dhaka partnership sustained for a long the pacer duo claimed three wickets each.
Replying to a moderate target, Khulna Tigers also saw an early debacle when Shoriful Islam appeared with a fierce mood with making a huge early breakthrough, as they lost the first wicket of captain Anamul Haque for a duck with the scoreboard reading no runs and lost the second wicket for 17 runs.
After losing two early wickets Khulna then did not fell into too trouble but to loss another three wickets, as they comfortably reached to the target losing five wickets by 15.2 overs.