Minister Group Rajshahi 147 for 4 (Shanto 55, Rony 26, Rishad 2-34) beat Gemcon Khulna 146 for 6 (Ariful 41, Shamim 35, Mukidul 2-44) by six wickets
Minister Group Rajshahi made it two wins out of two with their six-wicket win over Gemcon Khulna. Their captain Najmul Hossain Shanto's burst in the powerplay, which saw him hitting his first half-century of the Bangabandhu T20 Cup, clinched the game for Rajshahi.
Shanto struck three sixes and six fours in his 34-ball 55, as he added 47 runs for the second wicket with Rony Talukdar, who struck a six and three fours in his 26. Shanto fell in the 11th over, lbw to legspinner Rishad Hossain, but Mohammad Ashraful and Fazle Mahmud took them towards the target, before Nurul Hasan got them home with 2.4 overs to spare.
Rishad took two wickets while Al-Amin Hossain, who bowled just two overs, and Shahidul Islam took one wicket each.
Khulna made 146 for 6 after a late boost of runs from Ariful Haque, the hero of their opening-day win over Fortune Barishal. Ariful slammed two sixes in the penultimate over, in which young pace bowler Mukidul Islam went for 17 runs after bowling three wide balls at the start of the over. Ariful and Shahidul Islam added 42 runs for the unbroken seventh wicket, which spruced up Khulna's innings that was mostly lackluster.
Opener Imrul Kayes was the first to go, caught at short fine-leg after mistiming a sweep off Mahedi Hasan. Shakib Al Hasan, too, got caught playing across the line against Mukidul, at deep square-leg in the fifth over.
The Khulna innings unravelled further when Anamul Haque, having made 26 with three fours and a six, was run out in the eighth over. Jahurul Islam and captain Mahmudullah fell in the next two overs respectively, as they slipped to 51 for five in the tenth over. Young left-hander Shamim Hossain revived the innings somewhat, with a 25-ball 35 that had three fours and two sixes. He fell to Ebadot Hossain's bouncer shortly after hitting his second six, leaving Ariful to play out the last 4.5 overs with the tail.
Gazi Group Chattogram 90-1 (Soumya 44*, Liton 34) beat Beximco Dhaka 88 (Naim 40, Mosaddek 2-9, Shoriful 2-10) by nine wickets
Gazi Group Chattogram blew Beximco Dhaka away by nine wickets, after bowling them out for a paltry 88. Chattogram reached the target in 10.5 overs, making it one of the biggest wins in Mirpur in terms of balls remaining. Chattogram's big win will worry the rest of the field in a tournament where the five teams have very little room to make changes to their rosters.
Chattogram's decision to bowl first was vindicated when left-arm quick Shoriful Islam had his Under-19 teammate Tanzid Hasan in the second over, caught at slip with a fine away-going delivery.
It followed an infuriating period for Sabbir Rahman, who struggled for nine balls before skying Shoriful in the covers for a duck. But Dhaka had worse luck when their captain Mushfiqur Rahim, uncharacteristically, gave Soumya an easy grab at slip after his attempted reverse-sweep, off the first ball he faced, went awry.
Mohammad Naim and Akbar Ali provided a brief respite with their 44-run fourth wicket stand but Mosaddek Hossain bowled both of them in the space of three deliveries. Chattogram hardly gave them an inch afterwards, bowling them out for 88 in 16.2 overs. Apart from Shoriful and Mosaddek's miserly figures, Mustafizur Rahman and Taijul Islam also took two wickets each while Nahidul Islam, who took the prized wicket of Mushfiqur, and Soumya Sarkar got one each. Soumya and Liton played a range of attractive strokes, including lofted straight drives and punches through cover. They reached 51 in the Powerplay, before taking them to 79, when Liton got out for 34. Soumya remained unbeaten on 44 off 29 balls with four boundaries and two sixes.