Dhaka Capitals held their nerve to clinch a six-run victory over Sylhet Strikers in a high-scoring encounter of the Bangladesh Premier League at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chattogram on Monday.
Sylhet managed to score 190-7 in 20 overs while chasing 197, with Mustafizur Rahman pulling out a cliffhanger while defending 23 runs in the last over.
With this win, Dhaka secured their second victory in nine matches, while Sylhet faced their sixth defeat in eight games. With the defeat, Sylhet slipped to the bottom of the points table.
鈥業鈥檓 so happy; after losing so many, we needed this win,鈥� said Dhaka captain Thisara Perera after the much-needed win.
鈥榃e never know; if we win the next three matches, 10 points, we never know. Cricket is a gentleman鈥檚 game; it was a lovely game,鈥� said Perera in the post-match press conference.聽
Batting first, Dhaka made a shaky start as opener Tanzid Tamim departed for 22 and continued to lose wickets at regular intervals, but a 48-ball 70 by Liton Das kept their scoreboard ticking.聽
Liton and Sabbir Rahman鈥檚 42-run partnership steadied their innings, and then Liton paired with Perera for another 81-run partnership.聽
The duo pummelling the bowlers in the death, ramping up 56 in the last three overs to propel Dhaka to 196-6.
Perera hit 37 off 17 deliveries, including three fours and three maximum, and Liton鈥檚 top-scoring knock featured four boundaries and an equal number of sixes.
Tipu Sultan and Samiullah Shinwari picked up two wickets each for Sylhet.
Chasing the target, Sylhet needed a good start, but they did not exactly get that, as George Munsey (three) and Zakir Hasan (eight) departed early.聽
However, Rony Talukdar looked to be in brilliant touch and was joined by USA鈥檚 Aaron Jones, as the duo added 80 runs until Perera struck and broke the partnership.
Jones got dismissed for 36, and after a couple of overs, Rony also fell prey to the same bowler with Sylhet needing more than 14 in an over.
Jaker Ali played a rapid 13-ball 28, and skipper Ariful struck 29 in 13 balls but failed to capitalise on when they needed 23 in the last over.
Shinwari struck a six on the very first ball and followed it up with a four after a wide on the second delivery from Mustafiz.聽
However, Mustafiz regained control by dismissing Ariful on his fourth delivery and Shinwari was run out next ball with 11 needed off two, and Ruyel Miah hit a boundary to reduce the margin of defeat.
After the match, Sylhet captain Ariful urged his bowlers to step up and regretted not getting over the line during the final over.
鈥楩irst of all, our bowling side needs to improve. Our top order needs to score runs as well, so we need to look into these things,鈥� he said.
鈥榃ell, in the last over, we required around 23 runs; we gave our best but unfortunately failed to do that.鈥�
