Dhaka Metro became runners-up as Khulna and Rangpur fought out a thrilling draw while Dhaka suffered a 122-run loss to bottom-placed Barishal on the final day of this season鈥檚 National Cricket League on Tuesday.
Champions, Sylhet, also got the taste of their first defeat of the season when they lost to Rajshahi.聽
Hosts Khulna declared their second innings on 147-6 at the Sheikh Abu Naser Stadium to set Rangpur a target of 259 runs.
Rangpur got close to it despite losing their first five wickets for 58 runs. However, Tanbir Hayder (78 off 113), Nobin Islam (32), and Ariful Haque (56* off 52) couldn鈥檛 get them over the line as the time ran out.
They fell 17 runs short with three wickets remaining when the match ended.
At the Shaheed Chandu Stadium in Bogra, Dhaka were set a target of 221 runs after Barishal got all out for 241 runs in the second innings.
Barishal鈥檚 left-arm pacer Ruyel Miah then triggered a dramatic collapse in the Dhaka innings, who lost their last nine wickets for just 51 runs.
Dhaka made 98 while Ruyel got 6-28. This was Barishal鈥檚 first win of the season.聽
Sylhet lasted only 2.3 overs in the morning at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chattogram to fall 55 runs short of the target of 201 runs set by Rajshahi. Nihad Uz Zaman took the last wicket of the remaining two to bag his fifth.聽
But that didn鈥檛 hold Sylhet back, who soon were all smiling with the trophy of their maiden NCL triumph.
Their captain, Amite Hasan, became the player of the tournament after finishing as the top scorer with 785 runs at an average of 78.50.
