Nasir Hossain's five-for demolishes Chittagong for 67

Sylhet Sixers 68 for no loss (Rizwan 36*, Fletcher 32*) beat Chittagong Vikings 67 (Nasir 5-31, Nabil 3-7) by ten wickets
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Sylhet Sixers kept their hopes of qualifying into the playoffs alive, by walloping Chittagong Vikings in Dhaka by ten wickets. Chittagong were bowled out for 67, the lowest total of this BPL season – and the joint fourth-lowest of all time – as Sylhet chased the paltry total with 53 balls to spare.

Nasir Hossain, the captain, took his maiden T20 five-wicket haul, and he was assisted by the spin duo of Nabil Samad and Sharifullah (2 for 32) as Chittagong crumbled to Sylhet’s slow bowlers, as they were all out in the 12th over of the first innings.

Nasir’s double strike

As Sylhet displayed in their wicket-less chase, the pitch was not a difficult one to bat on. But Chittagong, attempting to go hell for leather from the start, paid the price early by not playing each ball to its merit. Luke Ronchi started the game off with a first-ball six off Nasir, but the Sylhet captain removed his opposite number the next ball, floating the ball slightly wide outside off and spinning past the right-handed Ronchi’s bat and taking top of off stump. Four balls later, Soumya Sarkar, the other opener, checked his drive to a ball that stood up after pitching, handing Nasir the easiest of caught-and-bowled wickets. At the end of the first over, Chittagong’s score read 7 for 2.

Nabil, Sharifullah assist their captain

Nasir may have finished with five wickets to his name, but he also conceded over 30 runs. Sylhet’s other two spinners, though, kept a check on Chittagong’s scoring from the other end by taking five wickets of their own. Irfan Sukkur and Sikandar Raza holed out prematurely to Sharifulah, while Nabil ran through Chittagong’s tail to ensure Sylhet had to chase at a rate of just over 3 runs per over for the win.

Nasir earns his stripes

After the double-strike off his first over, Nasir continued to chip away at the wickets, by bowling slow together with a tight line. In his second over, Nasir had the dangerous looking Luis Reece lbw for 12. Next over, he trapped Tanbir Haider plumb off an arm ball. And off his last over, Nasir’s heavy ball – that possessed a tennis-ball bounce – got big onto Stiaan van Zyl, forcing the batsman to hole out at midwicket. By the time Nasir had bowled himself out in the seventh over, Chittagong had already lost six wickets and realistically, also the game.

Fletcher, Rizwan make it look easy

If there were any questions on the demons that the Mirpur pitch may have possessed, the Sylhet openers Andre Fletcher and Mohammad Rizwan squashed any such doubts. They cut, swept and pulled their way to an unbeaten partnership of 68 – sharing ten fours and a six between them – to add to Chittagong’s misery. The win was completed with 53 balls to spare and was the largest margin of victory – in terms of balls remaining – this season.

Source: ESPN Crickinfo

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