Mahmudullah rues missed opportunities

Khulna Titans captain Mahmudullah thinks they were in the driving seat on two occasions, but squandered both of them as they lost their Bangladesh Premier League match against Chittagong Vikings Saturday in Mirpur’s Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium.

The Titans lost in the Super Over, the first ever in BPL history, and following that agonising defeat, they are still yet to open their account having lost all four games in the tournament so far.

Chasing 151, Chittagong reached 133-7 at the end of the 19th over and the Titans were favourite as they had to defend 19 runs, but Ariful Haque leaked three sixes and that took the game to the Super Over.

The Titans’ Pakistani recruit Junaid Khan, who bowled a brilliant penultimate over prior to the Super Over, allowed 11 runs in the one-off over, and the Titans were once again favourite to chase that down but they failed to do that and remain winless in the BPL thus far.

“We had a great opportunity in two phases. We had a great chance after three consecutive defeats. But we lost both the opportunities. A target of 11 is not huge in a Super Over. It was chaseable. But we could not make it,” said Mahmudullah after the match. 

@khulnatitans conceded their fourth consecutive loss, this time to @CtgVikings by one run following the Super Over in their @Official_BPLT20 match in Mirpur’s Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium Saturdayhttps://t.co/LND8grpJ96#KHULNATITANS #CHITTAGONGVIKINGS #KT #CHV #BPLT20

— Dhaka Tribune Sports (@Sport_DT) January 12, 2019

The skipper was also asked whether he himself could have stepped up with the ball in the final over, considering his huge experience and prior success in similar situations, but he said Ariful could bowl yorkers that could be handy. 

But the medium-pacer failed to do so, and wasted the opportunity for his side. 

“It would have been brilliant if we could win. It was the first Super Over in this year’s BPL. No captain wants a Super Over. As I said we should have defended 19 in the last over. We should have chased 12 in the Super Over. But we could not,” he added. 

Mahmudullah did not also step up with the bat in the final over as three foreign players Carlos Brathwaite, Dawid Malan and Paul Stirling were endowed with the responsibility. 

When asked about this, he said it was a decision from the team management.

“This is a matter of management. I thought Stirling was very good in offside, Malan was strong as well. We all know about Brathwaite. They were selected after considering all these. I could have gone to No 3 but I thought Stirling was better. So, we went for these three options,” said the 32-year old. 

The Titans are in all sorts of trouble without any points at this stage of the tournament, but the skipper was still keeping his hopes up with his side. 

“Now the tournament has become very tough for us. We must win five to six matches out of the remaining eight. This is tough but this is cricket. I urge my players not to think about eight matches as we must think about game by game,” said Mahmudullah.

11TH MATCH, CHVvKT 

KHULNA TITANS INNINGS        R    B

Stirling c Jayed b Nayeem         18    10

Junaid c Mosaddek b Frylinck        20    15

Malan c Raza b Jayed            45    43

Mahmudullah c Raza b Sanjamul    33    31

Brathwaite c Nayeem b Sanjamul    12    5

Shanto c Raza b Khaled         6    4

Ariful not out                9    8

Ankon not out                4    4

Extras (lb 2, w 2)            4 

Total (20 Overs)            151/6 

Fall Of Wickets

1-31 (Stirling), 2-41 (Junaid), 3-118 (Malan), 4-132 (Brathwaite), 5-132 (Mahmudullah), 6-142 (Shanto)

Bowling

Frylinck 4-0-32-1, Sanjamul 4-0-37-2, Nayeem 4-0-16-1, Mosaddek 1-0-7-0, Khaled 4-0-28-1, Jayed 3-0-29-1

CHITTAGONG VIKINGS INNINGS    R    B

Shahzad c Stirling b Junaid         10    10

Delport c Brathwaite b Taijul         17    16

Yasir c Brathwaite b Shariful        41    34

Mushfiq c Shariful b Brathwaite    34    26

Raza b Brathwaite            0    4

Mosaddek b Shariful Islam        12    12

Frylinck run out (Mahmudullah)    23    13

Nayeem c Shanto b Ariful         8    5

Sanjamul not out            0    0

Extras (lb 2, w 4)            6 

Total (20 Overs)            151/8 

Fall Of Wickets

1-12 (Shahzad), 2-51 (Delport), 3-86 (Yasir), 4-87 (Raza), 5-119 (Mosaddek), 6-121 (Mushfiq), 7-139 (Nayeem), 8-151 (Frylinck)

Bowling

Junaid 4-0-24-1, Brathwaite 4-0-30-2, Shariful 4-0-31-2, Stirling 1-0-9-0, Taijul 4-0-23-1, Malan 2-0-14-0, Ariful 1-0-18-1

Match tied, Chittagong Vikings won in Super Over

MoM: Robbie Frylinck (CHV)