A clinical Rangpur retained the NCL T20 title with a crushing eight-wicket win over Khulna in the final at the Sylhet International Stadium on Sunday.听
Akbar Ali-led Rangpur stormed to 138-2 in 17 overs in reply to Khulna鈥檚 136-8, with Nasir Hossain top-scoring with 46 off 31 while Naeem Islam remained unbeaten on 40 off 32.听
Nasir carried his form from the eliminator as he added a 61-run opening partnership with Jahid Javed to lay a strong foundation in Rangpur鈥檚 run chase.听
Jahid fell after making 27 off 24, while Nasir carried on with another experienced campaigner, Naeem.听
However, he fell four runs short of his fifty when he was caught at long off trying to hit part-timer Afif Hossain out of the park. Nasir struck five boundaries and a six in his 46-run knock.听
Naeem and Akbar then cruised past Khulna with an unbeaten partnership of 54 runs.听
Naeem remained unbeaten after hitting five fours鈥攆our of those came off Avisek Das in the final over of the match to seal the victory鈥攚hile Akbar was not out on 19 off 15.听
Rangpur finished the group stage at number four and had to come through the eliminator and then the second qualifier. They had to overcome injuries of some key players too.听
Earlier, Khulna had a tough time at the beginning after being asked to bat first, as they managed only 19 runs in the powerplay after Nasum Ahmed struck in the second ball to dismiss Imranuzzaman.听
The spin trio of Nasum, Nasir, and Abu Hasim tightened the screw as the top-order batters struggled to score. Both Anamul Haque (12 off 15) and Soumya Sarkar fell in the seventh over as Khulna became 21-3.听
Soumya was bowled by Hasim after making just eight off 22 balls.
Captain Mohammad Mithun then lifted Khulna with his 44 off 32 with one four and three sixes. He added 23, 25, and 44 runs with Afif Hossain, Sheikh Parvez, and Mrittunjoy Chowdhury, respectively.听
Rangpur captain Akbar Ali used as many as eight bowlers, while six of them were among the wickets. Abdullah Al Mamun took 2-15, while Nasum, Hasim, Iqbal Hosen, Mohammad Anamul, and Alauddin Babu each took one.听
Nasir, who gave away just five runs in his first three overs, finished with 0-19. 听
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