Confident Khulna, high-flying Chattogram in epic face off

The stage is ready for Bangabandhu T20 Cup to find its champion as Gemcon Khulna take on tournament favorite Gazi Group Chattogram in the season finale at Mirpur Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Dhaka Friday.

The occasion is the first in a Bangladesh T20 competition that the two teams who finished as No 1 and 2 in the league stage are playing the final. 

Khulna and Chattogram have faced each other three times in the tournament so far where the latter is leading by 2-1 wins.

The port city outfit have been brilliant throughout the tournament, having dominated the league stage winning seven off eight games. 

In the 1st Qualifier, they faced Khulna, who finished second in the league with four wins, and suffered their heaviest defeat of the campaign thus far.

A side well balanced with in both batting and bowling, Chattogram have been clinical, credit to their openers Liton Das and Soumya Sarkar who are in great form.

Wicketkeeper-batsman Liton has been excellent and is the top run-scorer of the competition with 370 runs in nine games, including three half-centuries. 

With the ball, left-arm pacer Mustafizur Rahman is back to his old self as he sits at the top of the highest wicket-takers’ list with 23 scalps.

“It will not matter in the final how you have played the first 10 matches. In a final, what matters is how you handle the pressure and the decision that you are taking in the middle. Result will depend on these two things,” said Chattogram coach Mohammad Salauddin to the media Thursday.

For a star-studded Khulna, the job will be to carry the winning momentum from their last game to the tournament decider. 

They are packed with experience with Mahmudullah as captain and legendary former national captain Mashrafe bin Mortaza on his side to provide priceless support. 

The squad has at least six other cricketers part of the national grid like Jahurul Islam, Imrul Kayes, Anamul Haque, Al Amin Hossain, among others.

They will definitely miss star-allrounder Shakib al Hasan as the cricketer left the country for Minnesota to attend to his ailing father-in law, who eventually passed away Wednesday.

The 47-run win over Chattogram in Qualifier 1 will boost the confidence of Khulna where former ODI skipper Mashrafe registered his career-best T20 bowling figure with a five-for.

“Finishing as the champion of a tournament is always a great feeling. The achievement will not only be of me as a captain but of the team, irrespective of the format of the game. We have a good line-up of experienced cricketers so I hope we play to our ability. I strongly believe if we play our game, the result will come for us,” said Khulna captain Mahmudullah.

Expectations are high that the game would be an absolute humdinger between Chattogram, a team based on youth, and Khulna, powered with experienced campaigners. 

The match will begin at 4:30pm and will be shown live on T Sports, the first sports channel of the country.