Tharanga, Narine pummel Khulna as Dhaka seal qualification

Controlling their playoff destiny heading into the final match of the regular season, Dhaka Dynamites produced a nerveless and dominant performance to dispose of Khulna Titans - the worst team in BPL 2019 - by six wickets with 31 balls to spare. Rajshahi Kings needed a miracle from the Titans to ensure the Dynamites would not steal the final playoff berth available but Titans did them no such favors.

On a good batting pitch, Titans stuttered through the Powerplay to get behind the eight-ball before the middle order shot themselves in the foot with overambitious shot selection in an effort to compensate for the slow start. At 81 for 6 in the 14th, the Titans tail scrapped their way to 123 as David Wiese grinded out a top score of 30 off 27 balls.

But the paltry total was never going to be enough and Dynamites soon made a mockery of the chase, more than doubling what Titans had produced in the Powerplay to reach 71 for 2 after six thanks to openers Sunil Narine and Upul Tharanga. Having entered the match with a sizable net run rate advantage over Kings, singles were all that was needed to clinch a playoff berth and Kieron Pollard played a sedate innings alongside Nurul Hasan in a 36-run stand to take Dynamites over the line and into the playoffs.

Narine produced another splendid all-round effort. After taking a solid 1 for 20 with the ball, he crushed the Titans opening the chase. Narine faced 13 of the first 16 balls. By the time he was out, the score was already at 43 and he had singlehandedly equaled the Titans Powerplay total of 35 after a ruthless assault on Subashis Roy, Junaid Khan and Saddam that mercifully ended when he drove Saddam to cover.

Andre Russell showed his deft agility to avoid major injury at the long-on boundary. In the 17th over of the first innings, Taijul Islam drove Narine for four down the ground. Russell tried in vain to cut the ball off before the rope, but his dead sprint took him in the path of one of the TV broadcast cameramen. He swerved left at the last moment before hurdling an advertising board to avoid a freak injury that might have curtailed his participation in the playoff phase.

Khulna had sealed the wooden spoon several matches earlier but end the season in last place with just four points, six behind Sylhet Sixers. Dynamites win allowed them to move up to fourth place on 12 points to leapfrog Rajshahi Kings on net run rate into the first playoff eliminator against Chittagong Vikings.