Cricket

BPL week two Nawaz advances undefeated Khulna, Sylhet, continues to lose

BPL week two Nawaz advances undefeated Khulna, Sylhet, continues to lose

By Kajal Sharma - 01 Feb 2024 03:29 PM

Chattogram's surprising hero was Oman's Bilal Khan, despite Barishal's Shoaib Mailk's sudden exit from the BPL.In the second week of the BPL's current 2023–24 season, all eight matches took place in Sylhet, which is regarded as the nation's best batting track. Even though Sylhet Strikers failed to score in five attempts, Khulna Tigers managed to stay unbeaten, having won four of their last five games. These are a few of the week's most noteworthy moments.While Khulna, who lead the table, continued their winning streak from the previous week with two more victories this time around, Chattogram Challengers were also playing well, having won three straight games to move into second place. Rangpur Riders also recovered from a loss at the beginning of the week with a pair of significant victories.Khulna, captained by Anamul Haque and featuring a sizable West Indies team, defeated Rangpur by 28 runs before destroying Durdanto Dhaka by ten wickets in a 131-run chase that they finished with over five overs remaining. Khulna's all-around player, Muhammad Nawaz, was the standout of both matches. Against Rangpur, he hit 55 off 34 balls and claimed two wickets; against Dhaka, he claimed 3 for 15. In addition to Nawaz, Anamul and Evin Lewis's constancy have helped Khulna.Conversely, Chattogram prevailed in both of this week's games.

While they were just able to defeat 193 against Fortune Barishal by ten runs, they were dominant against Sylhet, taking 138 wickets at a cost of only 14 deliveries. Last season's finalists, it was Sylhet's fifth consecutive defeat. In addition to losing to Chattogram, they also suffered crushing losses to Barishal and Comilla Victorians.Mashrafe Mortaza, who was injured and commanded the team despite not bowling frequently, could have contributed to Sylhet's bad run. Since then, Mashrafe has made the decision to pause the competition in order to concentrate on his political efforts. It was "not ideal" that he was still in the side, as he had previously acknowledged. Since dew seemed to become less of an issue at the picturesque Sylhet International Cricket Stadium, the switch from Mirpur in the first week to Sylhet in the second may have contributed to the majority of wins for sides batting first. The chasing side won all eight games in Mirpur.Meanwhile, Barishal's Pakistan all-rounder Shoaib Malik was the subject of a persistent off-field controversy. Malik bowled as many as three no-balls in an over against Khulna the week before, and Barishal owner Mizanur Rahman wasn't happy about it, saying "that's where we lost that match" as Khulna easily chased down 188. After just three games, on January 26, Mailk abruptly left the BPL, despite the fact that Malik's contract was "till February 14," according to Mizanur. Rumors of a rift within the team ensued after that, however Malik later clarified that it was untrue.

 

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