Rajshahi Kings eased to a seven-wicket win over Khulna Titans on the back of Sabbir Rahman’s responsible knock to set up the final against Dhaka Dynamites in the Bangladesh Premier League in Dhaka on Wednesday.
Sabbir made unbeaten 43 runs as Kings reached 129-3 in 19.2 overs after restricting Titans to 125-9 to book their place in the final, which will be held at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium on Friday.
Titans were on the
back foot from the very
beginning as they lost
wickets regularly with the only exceptional effort coming from number seven Ariful Haque, who remained unbeaten on 32 to give their innings some respectability.
Man of the match Samit Patel took three key wickets to finish with 3-19 and help Kings, who celebrated animatedly after the fall of every wicket, restrict the opponents to a gettable total.
Chasing the modest target, Kings also did not
have a great start as they lost openers Mominul Haque (2) Nurul Hasan (14) that left them struggling at 2-34.
Prodigious Under-19 all-rounder Afif Hossain, who took the tournament by a storm with five-for on debut, finally could show his batting prowess as he scored 26 runs and
added 33 with Sabbir for the third wicket to resurrect the innings.
Afif, who faced 27 balls and struck three sweetly timed fours, was trapped leg before by Mahmudullah but Sabbir did not let the team to feel the pressure with his unbeaten knock.
Despite his recent personal agony, Sabbir, who was penalised half of his contract money for an off-the field incident, kept his calm and played 52 balls, hitting just two fours and a six before taking his side home.
Sabbir was subdued initially before hitting his first boundary on the 32nd delivery that he faced.
He added undefeated 62 runs in their fourth wicket stand with James Franklin, who remained unbeaten on 30 not out and hoisted a huge six over long on off Mahmudullah to end the game in style.
Titans’ openers Hasanuzaman (1) and Abdul Mazid (11) earlier were run outs in the span of one delivery before Shuvagata Hom left for four to put them wobbling at 3-17.
Nicholas Pooran (22), Mahmudullah (22) and Ariful (32 not out) helped to pass 100-run mark, which was sadly not enough.
Brief Scores
Khulna Titans 125-9 in 20 overs (Arif 32 not out, Mahmudullah 22, Pooran 22; Patel 3-19) v Rajshahi Kings 129-3 in 19.2 overs (Sabbir 43 not out, Franklin 30 not out, Afif 26)
Result: Rajshahi Kings won by 7 wickets.
Man of the match: Samit Patel (Rajshahi Kings)