Anamul Haque starred with an unbeaten 72 off 47 as Khulna beat Barishal by eight wickets in the ongoing NCL T20 at the Sylhet International Stadium Outer Ground on Friday.聽
After being asked to bat first, Barishal were restricted to 137-7 in 20 overs, while Khulna reached 138-2 with 21 balls remaining. 聽
Barishal made a steady start, thanks to Azmir Ahmed (24), Iftakhar Hossain (34), Fazle Mahmud (32), and Salman Hossain (15). However, their collective strike rate was just 109.38.聽
Barishal managed just 56 runs in their last nine overs of the innings despite having eight wickets in hand.聽
Khulna used as many as eight bowlers for the second time in the league, while Sheikh Parvez Jibon and Ziaur Rahman each took two wickets.聽
After adding 41 runs with fellow opener Imranuzzaman (30), Anamul added a further 67 runs with Afif Hossain (21) for the second wicket.聽
He finished things off with another brief 28-run partnership with captain Mohammad Mithun. Anamul, who reached his fifty in 34 balls, struck six fours and three sixes.聽
Earlier, Nasir Hossain鈥檚 all-round performance helped Rangpur to beat Chattogram by five wickets at the same venue.聽
Chattogram scored 138-7 in 20 overs thanks to Irfan Shukkur, who remained unbeaten on 64 off 46 while coming in at five.聽
They lost four wickets for 44 runs, including three in the powerplay. Shukkur, with the help of Yasir Ali, who made 22 off 28, tried to rebuild and then lift Chattogram.聽
Shukkur hit seven fours and three sixes in his innings after reaching his fifty in 40 balls.聽
Pacer Abdul Gaffar Saqlain picked up three wickets for 21 runs, while Mushfik Hasan took two for 26 runs. Alauddin Babu and Nasir each took one.聽
Rangpur lost opener Anik Sarker early in the innings before Nasir and Jahid Javed added 78 runs for the second wicket to ease out the pressure.聽
Nasir made 43 off 32 while hitting four fours and two sixes, while Javed scored 39 off 32 with five fours and a six.聽
Captain Akbar Ali (26 off 14) and Iqbal Hosen (16 off 6) then took Rangpur home with their unbroken partnership, with two overs to spare.
