Khulna Titans wins a close encounter against Rajshahi Kings, on second day of BPL 2016 in match number 3. Mehmudullah hold his nerves and lead from the front to bowl last over of the innings and defended only 6 runs. Rajshahi Kings were favorites to win the match at most of time during the match.
After winning the toss Khulna decided to bat first. But they were unable to set a huge target. They could only manage to score 133 at loss of 8 wickets in 20 overs. Mehmdullah & Riki Wessels were the only notable batsmen, they both scored 32 each. Rajshahi Kings bowlers did well and restrict Titans on a very modest total. Pick of the bowlers were Abul Hassan, he also became second Bangladeshi bowler who took 5 wickets in a match of Bangladesh Premier League. His bowling figure was 5 for 28 in 4 overs. Samit Patel and Mohammad also bowled nicely and they both were economical as well.
At the break between two innings, everyone was sure that Kings can chase down this total easily. But no one could have imagined that Titans will come back strongly with their bowling. Junaid Khan’s first spell was fast & furious. He picked up three quick wickets in his first 3 overs of spell. He was bowling well according to plans of captain. Because of this Kings were 3 for 24 when their top order batsmen, Nurul Hassan, Sabbir Rehman and Umar Akmal was back to dug-out inside power play. Than Rajshahi Kings batsmen played sensible cricket and build two good partnerships. Mominul Haq with Samit Patel & Sammy stretched their team’s score to 111. That was the time when things were turned into favor of Titans, when Sammy was bowled out by Shafiul Islam and after 3 bowls in the same over Shafiul dismissed their set batsman Mominul Haq, he made 64 runs. It was the time when Titans were starting to believe that game could be theirs. In 19th over Captain Mehmudullah bring back Junad Khan to bowl a penultimate over of the innings in which he got most important wicket of Farhad Reza. But all came to last over .In last over Kings required only 6 runs, when captain Mehmudullah thought that this is the time to lead the team from the front, he came himself and decided to bowl last over of the innings. In last over he took three overs and most importantly he was able to defend these 6 runs and gave titans an impossible win.
With this all-round performance he was judged player of the match as well.
Here is small scorecard:
Match No. 3
Khulna Titans 133/8, 20 overs (Wessels 32, Mahmudullah 32; Abul Hasan 5/28)
Rajshahi Kings 130/10, 20 overs (Mominul 64, Sammy 31; Junaid 4/23)
