BPL 2017, Match 17, Review: Rajshahi Kings beat Sylhet Sixers in a one-sided encounter

Rajshahi Kings defeated Sylhet Sixers by seven wickets in a one-sided encounter in Dhaka in the ongoing Bangladesh Premier League (BPL). The target of 147 set by Sixers was comfortably chased down by Kings courtesy a blazing knock by Zakir Hasan. Sylhet, after winning the first three matches in their home ground, are now struggling in Dhaka and tasted their second defeat as their last game was washed out. However, the victory was the need of the hour for Rajshahi and they would look to build on it.

After being invited to bat first, Sylhet got off to a poor start as the openers were sent back to the hut in first four overs. Danushka Gunathilaka scored 40 off 37 to bring the innings back but the score stood 71/5 when he was dismissed in the 14th over. Sabbir Rahman then took the charge along with Tim Bresnan and propelled the team’s score to 146/6 after the completion of their 20 overs. While the former scored 41 off 26 balls, Bresnan remained unbeaten on 29 off just 17 cherries.

All the bowlers bowled exceptionally well and chipped away with the wickets. But Mehidy Hasan deserves a special mention as he dismissed the in-form Upul Tharanga early and gave away only 12 runs in his quota of four overs. The score felt competitive when Sixers were batting and the match was expected to be close.

Zakir blew away Sixers challenge

Unlike Sylhet Sixers, Kings were provided with an excellent start by their openers Rony Talukdar and Mominul Haque. Both added 65 runs in 51 balls as the former was stumped off Nasir Hossain. Samit Patel followed soon much to the delight of the fielding side but Zakir Hasan arrived and counter-attacked the bowlers. Though Abul Hasan scalped Mominul for 42 in the 13th over, Zakir was in his zone by then.

He smashed every bowler of the opposition out of the park and reached his half-century of a boundary which was ultimately the winning shot. His knock of 51* was studded with 4 fours and three gigantic sixes. Only the skipper Nasir Hossain bowled well for Sylhet as he conceded only 20 runs and picked a solitary wicket. But others were relatively expensive who were belted by Zakir and Mominul to some extent.

Rajshahi Kings would now look to take the momentum further and win more games in the near future. Sylhet, on the other hand, would quickly want to come out of the rut and maintain their second positon in the points table.

Brief Scores

Sylhet Sixers 146/6 after 20 overs (S Rahman 41, D Gunathilaka 40; K Williams 2/32, M Hasan 1/12)

Rajshahi Kings 150/3 after 17.3 overs (Z Hasan 51*, M Haque 42; N Hossain 1/20)

Man of the Match: Zakir Hasan