Mehidy and Nasum help Khulna Tigers progress to Qualifer 2; Rangpur Riders eliminated

Khulna Tigers roared to a nine-wicket win against the star-studded Rangpur Riders in the BPL's eliminator match. The victory puts them in the second qualifier to face the losing side from the first qualifier later on Monday. Khulna's spinners helped bowl out Rangpur for 85, before needing just 10.1 overs to knock off the target.

Rangpur, who decided to bat first, couldn't get going despite a stronger batting line-up than their previous outings. Khulna's captain Mehidy Hasan Miraz and Nasum Ahmed took three wickets each, opening the bowling quite successfully. Rangpur were in danger of posting an even lower total after being 52 for 9 at one stage.

The image of Andre Russell, James Vince and Tim David walking through the Dhaka airport on Monday morning was a sight for sore eyes in the Rangpur camp. They had lost their way in the latter part of the BPL, falling to four defeats after winning eight in a row. Rangpur needed this boost from their big guns coming in after their stints in the ILT20. But it didn't quite pan out the way they would have hoped.

Vince got into a mix-up with his opening partner Soumya Sarkar off the second ball of the match, resulting in the latter being run out for a duck. Vince himself got caught and bowled in the second over. David was the next one to go, falling to a catch in the deep for 7 off 9 balls. Mohammad Nawaz clean bowled a slogging Russell in the 12th over, the last nail in the coffin for Rangpur.

Having handled the recently arrived big-hitters very well, Khulna were also relentless against the Rangpur locals. After Soumya and Vince departed, Nasum removed Mahedi Hasan before Saif Hassan slogged Mehidy to no avail. When Mehidy removed his opposite number Nurul Hasan for 23, Rangpur were reduced to 52 for 9. It was only thanks to Aakif Javed's intervention from No. 10 that they scored a few more runs.

Mehidy's wicket in the first over was the only blip in Khulna's reply. Mohammad Naim continued his great form of the last two months, striking three fours and four sixes in his 33-ball 48 not out. It took him top of the BPL run-getters' chart. Alex Ross added 29 runs off 27 balls, hitting four boundaries.

Khulna have returned to form in the right time in the tournament, having won three matches in a row. They finished fourth in the league stage, equal on points with Durbar Rajshahi, qualifying only through a better net run-rate. Now, they have a chance to reach the BPL final. It is however the end of the road for Rangpur this season, having come into the BPL with the Global Super League title under their belt.