Sylhet complete hat-trick of wins to keep Comilla victory-less

Towhid Hridoy continued his rich vein of form in the BPL as his second fifty in a row handed Comilla Victorians their second loss of the tournament. The clinical five-wicket win was Sylhet's third consecutive win. 

Hridoy was ably supported by Zakir Hasan and Mushfiqur Rahim after the bowlers restricted a strong Comilla batting line-up to a sub-150 total.

Comilla put on 149 for six thanks to Jaker Ali's third T20 fifty. On a day where most of the Comilla batters struggled to go at a rapid pace, the 24-year-old batter rotated strike well and struck three sixes and two boundaries in his 43-ball-57. 

Shykat Ali (20 off 12) started off brilliantly with four fours but was cleaned up by Imad Wasim. England's Dawid Malan failed to accelerate and finally fell to Thisara Perera after scoring a torturous 37 off 39. 

Sylhet's foreign recruits Thisara Perera and Mohammad Amir picked up economical two-wicket hauls. Imad and captain Mashrafe Mortaza got one wicket each.

In reply, Comilla were on a roll. They got well ahead of the required run rate  in the first half of their innings with some enterprising batting. Although Najmul Hossain Shanto (19 off 21) failed to score quickly again, Towhid Hridoy seemed to carry his form from the previous game where he was the player of the match.

Zakir Hasan came out with a positive mindset again and his cameo of 10-ball-20 helped them continue the flow of runs after the powerplay. Hridoy and Zakir brought the required run rate down to six-an-over at the halfway mark.

Hridoy (56 off 37) racked up his second consecutive half-century off just 35 balls to make the chase a comfortable one for Sylhet. Mohammad Nabi (2/28) and Khushdil Shah (2/29) struck in quick succession but the breakthroughs came too late.

Mushfiqur Rahim (28* off 25), like the previous match, stayed till the end to ensure the victory. Sylhet reached the target with 14 balls to spare.

Comilla skipper Imrul Kayes admitted that they simply didn't have enough on the board. 

"We didn't have enough on the board. During the powerplay we lost so many wickets. Jaker Ali batted well, I need to thank him. The wicket was okay, but the slower ball was gripping. The wicket got better after a few overs," Kayes said. 

A strong team on paper, defending champions Comilla got off to an unexpected start as they lost two in a row but Kayes stated that the four-day break before the next game will help them regroup.

"We have lost a couple of matches, but we have a few days to rest. We need to think what is better for the team going forward. We will try with other overseas players in the upcoming games, hopefully we will be able to bounce back," he added.

Hridoy deservedly won the player-of-the-match award for his impactful knock but the right-handed batter was slightly disappointed not to finish the game.

"Really good, but it would have been better if I had finished the match. Rahim, Mashrafe - they support me. I just try to play my role. Getting used to things, trying to focus on myself and trying to play good cricket," stated Hridoy.

Sylhet captain Mashrafe said that they couldn't be too complacent now with three wins in the bag already and need to sustain the momentum. 

"No way to relax, we have won three, but there are a lot of matches to come. In no way, we can relax," the veteran said.