Another Mahmudullah special helps Khulna defend 127

Khulna Titans 127 for 7 (Pooran 29, Nabi 3-22) beat Chittagong Vikings 123 for 9 (Nabi 39, Shafiul 4-28, Mahmudullah 3-24) by four runs
Scorecard

For the second time in three matches, Mahmudullah defended six runs in the final over to bowl Khulna Titans to a sensational four-run win against Chittagong Vikings at the Shere Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur. Chittagong, in pursuit of Khulna's 127 for 7, began the final over of the chase on 122 for 6, but Mahmudullah took three wickets and conceded just one run to leave Chittagong stranded on 123 for 9. With the win, Khulna rose to second on the table.

That one run came off the first ball of the over courtesy Mohammad Nabi. Mahmudullah fired a wide one next ball, and Chaturanga de Silva nicked an attempted cut to the wicketkeeper. Abdur Razzak survived an lbw shout next ball, but fell immediately after when he heaved one to long off. All wasn't lost for Chittagong, however, as the batsmen had crossed, bringing the set Nabi, on 39 off 21 balls, back on strike. But he failed to connect a cut off the fifth ball to leave them needing five off the final delivery, which he holed out to midwicket. Mahmudullah ended with figures of 3 for 24 in three overs.

Before Mahmudullah, Shafiul Islam wrecked Chittagong. After Kevon Cooper sent back the Chittagong openers Tamim Iqbal and Dwayne Smith, Shafiul dismissed Shoaib Malik, Anamul Haque and Zakir Hasan in successive overs. That brought out Nabi, and he kept Chittagong's fight alive through partnerships of 24 with Jahurul Islam (25) for the sixth wicket and 45 with Chaturanga for the seventh. Cooper was also impressive, finishing with 2 for 17 in his quota of overs.

When Khulna batted, they were similarly in the middle of a wobble before being lifted by late contributions. When opener Riki Wessels fell, bowled by Razzak, he had made 28 out of the team's 42 for 3. That would soon become 77 for 5, before Nicholas Pooran (29) and Ariful Haque (25 not out) shared 48-run stand for the sixth wicket that took them past the 120-mark. Nabi was brilliant with the ball too, taking 3 for 22 in four overs. Taskin Ahmed took 2 for 17 in three overs and Razzak finished with 1 for 23 in four.