Khulna Titans 128 for 9 (Ariful 26, Mehidy 2-21) beat Rajshahi Kings 103 (Taijul 3-10, Junaid 3-26) by 25 runs
How the game played out
Finally Khulna Titans put some points on the board after their 25-run win over Rajshahi Kings at Sylhet. A solid bowling performance, particularly from Taijul Islam who took three for 10 and Mahmudullah ( two for 12) at a crucial phase, helped them defend what appeared to be a sub-par 128 at the half way stage.
Mehidy Hasan Miraz, who made 23 off 16 balls, lasted till the sixth over, after which they kept slipping, and finally ended on 103 in 19.5 overs.
Carlos Brathwaite did not contribute with bat or ball, but took four catches becoming the fifth fielder in the BPL to do so.
Khulna were lacklustre with the bat, only a 34-run seventh wicket stand taking them past the 100-run mark. Ariful's 26 was the top score while none of their batsmen could hit more than two boundaries individually. Kamrul Islam Rabbi, Mehidy Hasan and Mustafizur Rahman combined to take 3-58 from their 11 overs.
Turning points
Brathwaite's batting form in the BPL continued to be a problem for the Titans. This time, he fell in the 13th over to Arafat Sunny after making only eight runs. His tally now stands at 26 runs in three innings.
Titans picked up four wickets during Kings' Powerplay, with Taijul Islam having both Mehidy Hasan and Soumya Sarkar holing out in the deep in the sixth over.
Kings scored just 16 runs in the five overs between the 10th and 15th, which meant that their required mounted to 12.60 from an achievable 7.90 at the halfway mark.
Star of the day
After picking just two wickets in the first four matches, Taijul finally found his groove with the three wickets. After removing Mehidy and Soumya, Taijul took out Ryan ten Doeschate, also keeping the Kings innings quiet throughout his spell.
The big miss
Laurie Evans pulling Junaid's really short ball to mid-on for his second duck in three matches. Evans has so far made 13 runs in five innings.
Where the teams stand
Titans now have two points from five games but they remain at the bottom of the points table. Kings are on fifth with four points from their five outings.
