Cumilla set Sylhet a target of 141

A good start but a procession of wickets in the second half of the innings led to Cumilla Warriors reach 140-9 in their match against hosts Sylhet Thunder in the Bangabandhu Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) T20 2019-20 at Sylhet.

Sylhet and Cumilla both fielded new captains as both of their regular captains were unavailable. Sylhet's regular skipper Mosaddek Hossain was out with a back injury whereas Cumilla's regular skipper Dawid Malan had to return home because of personal reasons. Sylhet skipper Andre Fletcher won the toss and invited his counterpart, Soumya Sarkar to bat first. 

Batting first, Cumilla were off to a flying start as they notched up 42 runs in the first four overs. Especially Upul Tharanga, who was playing his first match of the tournament, was relentless on the Sylhet bowlers. Sylhet got their first success in the fifth over when their skipper Fletcher took a superb catch off Ebadat Hossain's bowling to dismiss Stiaan Van Zyl for 10. In the process, Fletcher injured himself and thus had to leave the field. 

After getting their first scalp, Sylhet looked charged up and started to thwart Cumilla's flow of runs. Cumilla skipper Soumya and Tharanga both fell to Sohag Gazi for 8 and 45 respectively. Yasir Ali was the next to go as he was caught at the boundary for 5 off Sherfane Rutherford to reduce Cumilla to 87-4. 

Cumilla continued to lose wickets in regular intervals as David Wiese was sent back by Ebadat and Rutherford clattered Sabbir's stumps to send him back for a sluggish 17 off 25 deliveries.

Abu Hider Rony and Sunzamul Islam went back in consecutive deliveries to reduce Cumilla to 123-8 with Rutherford and Ebadot both picking up their third scalp of the game. 

Cumilla somehow stuttered their way to 140-9 as Mujeeb-ur-Rahman was run out in the last delivery trying to steal a second run. Mahidul Islam Ankon was unbeaten on 19 off 14 deliveries. 

Rutherford and Ebadot both picked up three wickets with Sohag Gazi picking up a couple.