Ctg Kings win despite drops

Chittagong Kings gave Sylhet Royals every chance to pick up their maiden Bangladesh Premier League win but yesterday remained the day for Mahmudullah Riyad & Co as they won by seven wickets.

It was the Kings' third win in the T20 competition as they remained among the top two after four games at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur. But Sylhet should have made more than 152-4 in their 20 overs as they were given eight lives by the Chittagong fielders.

Kamran Akmal and Peter Trego made half-centuries but didn't kick on to make bigger contributions. The discarded Pakistan wicketkeeper-batsman made 54 off 41 balls while the Sylhet skipper struck a 48-ball 51. Alok Kapali remained unbeaten on a 23-ball 34 with the help of two fours and a six and became the first Bangladeshi batsman to score more than 100 runs in BPL.

Riyad, Arafat Sunny, Muttiah Muralidaran, Jason Roy and Kevon Cooper all dropped catches while Kapali survived a sure run-out chance but nobody made them count substantially.

Chittagong then lost Jahurul Islam early in the chase but Roy and Nasir Jamshed gave them the recovery before Ziaur Rahman and skipper Riyad shepherded Chittagong to the winning target with 15 balls to spare.

The big-hitting Zia remained unbeaten on 48 off 32 balls with four sixes and two fours while Riyad, the eventual man-of-the-match, struck 56 off 38 balls. The national vice-captain also followed Kapali into the three-figure mark in the competition.

Sohail Tanvir, Trego and Brad Hogg all took a wicket each.

Chittagong however remained a team without their icon player, as Tamim Iqbal still hasn't recovered from the groin injury he suffered after the first game.

During the post-match press meet, Riyad said that Tamim wasn't 100 percent fit for the game yesterday: “He gave a fitness test today but we didn't want to take a chance on him for this game. He will hopefully play in the coming matches.”

Royals' fielding coach Jason Swift said that it was not a situation his team would have liked to be in at the start of the tournament. “It's very frustrating and disappointing. We don't want to be in this situation for ourselves. It's not very nice going back to the hotel every night knowing you're in a team that's lost every game,” he said.

SCORES IN BRIEF
SYLHET: 152-4 in 20 overs (Akmal 54, Trego 51; Forhad 2-28)

CHITTAGONG: 154-3 in 17.3 overs (Riyad 56 not out, Ziaur 48 not out; Tanvir 1-16)

Result: Chittagong won by seven wickets.

Man-of-the-match: Mahmudullah Riyad.