Mashrafe's five-for takes Dhaka to the final

Bangladesh's former captain and the right-arm pacer Mashrafe Bin Mortaza scalped five wickets conceding 35 runs, his best in the format, and guided his team Gemcon Khulna to a 47-run win over Gazi Group Chattogram on Monday at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium.
With this win, Khulna marched to the final of the Bangabandhu T20 Cup 2020. While Khulna booked a place in the final, Chattogram will have to face Beximco Dhaka in the Qualifier 2 for another chance.

Khulna batted first in this game losing the toss and posted 210 runs riding on 80 by Jahurul Islam. In reply, Chattogram lost Soumya Sarkar early which was a big blow for them.

In the last ball of the over, Soumya tried to clear Masrhafe through the deep-midwicket area, but Shamim Hossain took an easy catch to dismiss the southpaw.

Mashrafe hit again when he removed Liton Das during his second over. Liton tried to slog and chopped it onto the stumps. In the third wicket stand, Mohammad Mithun and Mahmudul Hasan added 73 runs, which has created a chance for Chattogram to make a comeback to the race to win the game.

But going to 138 from 100, Khulna lost both of Mithun and Mahmudul, and they couldn't recover from this damage anymore. While Mahmudul posted 31 off 27, Mithun scored 53 off 35 balls with three fours and as many as sixes.

Mosaddek Hossain (17) and Shamsur Rahman (18) showed some resistance, but that wasn't enough for Chattogram to seal this game. They eventually tumbled for 163 for all wicket in 20 overs and lost the game by 47 runs.

For Khulna, Mashrafe bagged five wickets conceding 35 runs while Hasan Mahmud and Ariful Haque took two wickets each conceding 35 and 26 runs respectively.

Earlier, Khulna posted a challenging total of 210 runs for seven in 20 overs. Jahurul led the charge posting 80 off 51 balls with five fours and four sixes. His opening partner Zakir Hasan, however, failed to do well this time, adding only 16 off 22 balls.

Zakir was trapped run-out during the 10th over of the innings. Imrul Kayes came at number three and posted 25 off 12 balls with three fours and one six. Despite a good start, he failed to continue, the same was for Shakib Al Hasan, who posted 28 off 15 balls with two fours and as many as sixes.

In his short stay in the middle, Mahmudullah Riyad posted 30 off only nine balls with two fours and three sixes. Mahmudullah was removed by the leg-spinner Sanjit Saha.

For Chattogram, Mustafizur Rahman bagged two wickets conceding 31 runs while Sanjit Saha and Mosaddek Hossain took one wicket each.

Chattogram will now face Beximco Dhaka in the second Qualifier of the event on December 15 at 4:30pm. Dhaka beat Fortune Barishal in the Eliminator to advance to the second Qualifier.