Burl’s all-round show gives Rajshahi 2nd victory in BPL

Dhaka, 10 Jan —Durbar Rajshahi became the first team in this season to defend a total in Sylhet venue when they beat Khulna Tigers by 28 runs for their second victory in five matches in the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) today at Sylhet International Cricket Stadium.

Largely due to the dew effect, the team which batted in the second innings generally won the game in the past matches but the trend was changed in this game. 

Zimbabwe recruit Ryan Burl played the important role in the victory, firstly with 29 ball-48 not out and then taking 2-13 in two overs.

After being asked to bat first, Rajshahi put up a challenging 178-5 and defended it successfully to wrap up Khulna Tigers 150 in 19.2 overs. It was Khulna’s first match in Sylhet venue, having played two matches in Dhaka. They won both the matches in Dhaka phase.

The top order failure contributed in their defeat as none of them was able to come up with terms.

Durbar Rajshahi’s inform pacer Taskin Ahmed was little bit off colour today but still Khulna failed to take the opportunity of that. Taskin eventually ended with two wickets, conceding 30 runs in 3.3 overs.

Taskin however took the wicket of Khulna skipper Mehidy Hasan Miraz for one before he wrapped up the innings with the wicket of Salman Irshad in the last over.

The other batters of Khulna negotiated Taskin with ease but Sohag Gazi and Burl caused the havoc to slice their middle order. 

Afif Hossain was the top-scorer for the side with 33 while opener Naim Sheikh made 24. No other batters could cross 20-run mark.

Rajshahi rode on Burl’s effective knock to post a decent total on the board. Yasir Ali Rabbi made 41 and added 88 runs with Burl after Rajshahi were reduced to a meager 67-4 in 9.5 overs.

The duo batted with caution and aggression to steer the side past 150.  

Yasir who played 25 balls for his knock and hit three fours and two sixes was dismissed in the penultimate over.

Akbar Ali finished the things nicely hitting an unbeaten 21 runs off 9 balls. But Burl who smote seven fours and one six missed out his half-century as Akbar played nine balls out of 10 after Yasir's dismissal.

Left-arm spinner Nasum Ahmed took 2-20 for Khulna.