Nazmul Hossain Shanto’s whirlwind 115 maneuvered Khulna Tigers to climb to the peak when they successfully made a record chase beating Dhaka Platoon by eight wickets in the position-extending round-robin league phase match of the ongoing Akash-DTH Bangabandhu-Bangladesh Premier League at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Mirpur yesterday. As of now, they will face off second-placed Rajshahi Kings in Qualifier-1 at the SBNCS in January 13. The winners will go through the final and the losers will compete against the winners of the Eliminator in January 15. And the third-placed Chattogram will vie against fourth-placed Dhaka in Eliminator in January 13.

Nazmul Hossain Shanto and Mehidy Hasan Miraj provided a sublime start to Khulna in chase of Dhaka Platoon’s imposing 206. They

put on 70 before the departure of Miraj, who was undone by off-spinner Mahedi Hasan. Miraj fell five runs short of his half-century. He stroked 45 off 25, hitting seven fours and a six.

Calm-natured Rossouw became more dangerous after getting a reprieve on 12 when Mashrafe Bin Mortaza failed to take a stunning catch at cover. The speed of the ball was so high that Masharfe was forced to leave the ground having sustained finger injury. Shanto hit an impressive 81 with Rossouw for second-wicket stand. Leg-spinner Shadab Khan removed Rossouw when he was caught out by sub-fielder Ariful Haque. South African batsman cracked two sixes in his 17-ball 23 that brought him back on top in highest-run getter in special BPL.

Thisara spilled a direct catch of Shanto when he was on 74. By then, Shanto made a part of history when he slammed a jaw-dropping century in BPL as the fifth Bangladeshi batsman after Shahriar Nafees, Mohammad Ashraful, Sabbir Rahman and Tamim Iqbal. It was the 21st century as 12th batsman in BPL history. He blasted his half-century from 27 balls and century from 53 balls. Finally Shanto remained unbeaten on 115 off 57. He was adjudged player of the match for his jaw-dropping blitzkrieg with willow. Mushfiqur Rahim was on 18 not out. Earlier, fifty-plus scores from Mominul Haque (91) and Mahedi Hasan (68 not out) steered Dhaka Platoon to pile on a staggering 205 for four against Khulna Tigers.  

Khulna captain Mushfiqur Rahim won the toss of the high-octane match and unsurprisingly opted to field first once again, putting faith in the team’s ability to chase in Mirpur new-built track, where Khulna’s fast medium pacer Robbie Frylinck waggled Dhaka’s top-order batsmen with his double strikes.

The globe-trotting South Africa all-rounder got rid of opener Tamim Iqbal and one-drop Anamul Haque Bijoy in two successive over while the Platoons were teetering at 13-2 in 3.4 overs.

Pacer Shafiul Islam extended Dhaka’s batting debacle when he made caught and bowled two-down Jaker Ali Anik, who slammed seven-ball 14. Head coach Mohammad Salauddin brought Mominul Haque up to bat with Tamim Iqbal. After losing Tamim, Bijoy and Anik, Mominul dag in position and stopped the rut with all-rounder Mahedi Hasan.

The due put up 100 runs in 13.1 overs. Mahedi was aggressive more than Mominul and leveled his runs with newly-promoted opener in 14 overs when they were on 37 each. Then Mominul hit six after two successive boundary off Shafiul Islam and notched up his second half-century from 41.

Therefore, when Mominul was drifting towards triple-figure mark, Mahedi brought up his third half-century from 31 balls when he hit Mohammad Amir for boundary before clubbing him six. Unfortunately Mominul was caught by Robbie Frylinck off Mohammad Amin when he was just nine runs away from his hundred.

Before his dismissal, Mominul stitched together a brilliant and record of 153 runs for the fourth-wicket stand in overall BPL history. They broke the previous of 148-run record of Laurie Evans and Ryan ten Doeschate what they did for Rajshahi Kings in 2019 against Comilla Victorians. Getting a reprieve from stumping by Shohidul Islam, on 77, Mominul Haque’s dazzling 91off 59 balls emblazoned with seven boundaries and four sixes.  

Finally the Platoon managed to post a whopping total of 205 on the board with Mahedi Hasan making 69 and Thisara Perera six. Mahedi hammered 68 with five big shots over ropes and three fours in his unbeaten 36-ball knock.