In an intriguing finale of the Bangabandhu T20 Cup, Gemcon Khulna beat Gazi Group Chattogram by a mere 5 runs at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur on Friday. Gemcon Khulna are now the maiden champions of the tourney.
Earlier, it was skipper Mahmudullah’s 48-ball 70 knock which propelled Khulna to a challenging total of 155/7. Then Khulna bowlers’ immaculate bowling sealed the deal for the men in orange and restricted Chattogram at 150/6.
Chasing a challenging 155, Khulna were in a spot of bother as they lost 3 pivotal wickets before 10 overs, which left them at 62/3. In form openers, Liton Das and Soumya Sarkar could not inflict much damage as the former scored 23 and the latter scored 12 before getting out. Skipper Mohammad Mithun also got out cheaply after scoring 7. After that, batsman Shykat Ali with his maiden fifty tried to take his team towards glory but failed to do so. His 45-ball 50 went in vain in front of superb bowling from the Khulna bowlers.
After being sent to bat first, no other batsmen except Mahmudullah made any significant impact in the game. Mahmudullah’s exquisite 48-ball 70 was laced with 8 boundaries and 2 maximums. However, it was not easy for him from the go. He struggled a bit at the beginning but made amends after a shaky start with some delightful looking strokes in the dying overs of the first innings.
For Chattogram, spinner Nahidul and pacer Shoriful Islam shined with the ball. Both Nahidul and Shoriful scalped two wickets each.
