Rangpur emerged as the first finalist of the inaugural edition of the NCL T20 after they beat Dhaka Metro by four wickets in the low-scoring qualifier 1 at the Sylhet International Cricket Stadium on Saturday.
Pacer Robiul Hoque starred with the ball as he claimed 3-19, while in-form all-rounder Alauddin Babu also claimed 2-25 as Rangpur restricted Metro to 107-9 in their stipulated overs.
Metro, who earlier won all of their seven league games, were in fear of getting dismissed before crossing the 100-run mark, but Aminul Islam Biplob鈥檚 unbeaten 23 off 24 balls and Abu Hider Rony鈥檚 eight-ball 16 pushed their total beyond the three-figure mark.
Chasing a modest total, Rangpur were reduced to 62-4, but Tanvir Hayder (22) and Ariful Haque (22) guided them to the finishing line with four balls to spare.
Rangpur now wait for their December 24 final opponents, as it will be decided after the qualifier 2 match between Metro and Khulna, scheduled at the same venue today.
Earlier in the day, Khulna booked their place in the qualifier 2 with a seven-run win over Chattogram in the eliminator match to knock the latter out of the competition at the same venue.
Sent in to bat first, riding on skipper Nurul Hasan Sohan鈥檚 39-ball 52, Khulna were in a decent position for a big finish before Chattogram pacer duo Ahmed Sharif (4-26) and Fahad Hossain (3-20) dismantled their batting lineup by taking their last five wickets for just nine runs and bowl them out for 146 runs in 19.3 overs.
Chattogram then lost half of their wickets for just 64 runs in the 11th over before Yasir Ali Chowdhury (37 off 27 balls) and Nayeem Hasan (34 not out) shared a 53-run stand for the sixth wicket to bring their side back in the contest.
However, after Yasir lost his wicket to pacer Mehedi Hasan Rana (2-12), Chattogram failed to match up with the asking run rate, and despite taking 16 runs in the last over from Al-Amin Hossain, they could only manage 139-6 in the stipulated overs.
