BSP-21 Mehedy, Mominul secure emphatic victory for Rajshahi in BPL

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Mehedy, Mominul secure emphatic victory for Rajshahi in BPL

DHAKA, Jan 9, 2019 (BSS) – Rajshahi Kings recorded their first win in the Bangladesh Premier League T20 as they beat Khulna Titans by seven-wicket held on Wednesday at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium at Mirpur.

Chasing a mediocre target of 118 runs set by Khulna, Rajshahi Kings comfortably reached home in 18.5 overs with seven wickets in hand.

With this win, Rajshahi Kings opened their account with two points from two matches while Khulna Titans which suffered their third consecutive defeats in the tournament is yet to open their account playing three outings.

After the departure of opener Mohammad Hafeez early in the chase, dependable batsman Mominul Haque and skipper Mehedy Hasan steadied the innings to take Rajshahi closer to the victory with a solid 89-run for the second wicket stand.

The diminutive batsman Mominul scored 43-ball off 44 runs with the help of four boundaries before he fell to Paul Stirling while Mehedy, who scored maiden BPL fifty, played a well knock half century smashing 45-ball off 51 runs hitting six boundaries and one over boundary.

Soumya Sarkar and Laurie Evans completed the mere formality to remain unbeaten till the end of the innings.

Paul Stirling, Zahir Khan and Taijul Islam all shared one Rajshahi’s wicket conceding 9, 18 and 22runs respectively.

Earlier, Sri Lankan recruit Isuru Udana’s disciplined bowling display saw Rajshai Kings restricted Khulna Titans in a small total of 117 for 9 from their allotted 20 overs after Khulna Titans won the toss and decided to bat first.

However, the two Rajshahi openers – Junaid Siddique (23) and Paul Stirling (16) gave Rajshahi a good start contributing 40 runs for the opening stand before Mustafizur Rahman broke the pair removing Paul.

Junaid also lasted a little giving a catch to Fazle Mahmud off Udana’s delivery after the departure of two openers Rajshahi suffered little wobble in the middle.

Dawid Malan (22), David Wiese (14) and Ariful Haque (12) got off a good start in the middle but could not convert those into a big knocks in the face of tight bowling attacks by the Rajshahi Kings bowlers.

Isuru Udana was the most successful bowler for Rajshahi as he claimed three wickets conceding 15 runs. He was well supported by pacer Mustafizur Rahman who captured two wickets giving away 18 runs.

BSS/SG/MRU/2132hrs