Bangabandhu T20 Tournament 2020 
3rd Match: Minister Group Rajshahi VS Jemcon Khulna 
Played at SBNCS Dhaka 
Minister Group Rajshahi 147/4 in 17.2 Overs (Najmul Hossain Shanto 55, Rony Talukdar 26, Mohammad Ashraful 25*, Fazle Mahmud 24, Rishad Hossain 2/34) beat Jemcon Khulna 146/6 ( Ariful Haq 41*, Shamim Hossain 35 , Anamul Haq 26 , Shahidul 17* Arafat Sunny 1/17) 
Player Of Match: Najmul Hossain Shanto 

A well drilled Minister Group Rajshahi yet again outgunned the big guns Jemcon Khulna winning easily by 6 wickets.

Asked to bowl after losing the toss all the Rajshahi bowlers bowled to a plan and fielders gave everything netting big fishes quite early. Kayes, Shakib, Mahmudullah, Jahurul frustrated team admirers. Once again top order collapse left the late middle order playing out of their skins to post 146/6. Rajshahi in response looked confident from the start with captain Shanto and number three batsman Rony Talukdar setting the platform. Fazle Mahmud played a cameo and experienced Ashraful keeping his calm steered his team to a very satisfying win. 

Before describing the match must give due credit to Imran and Rajin Saleh tuning the underdog Rajshahi to a fighting unit. The team did not go for big guns excepting veteran Ashraful back again after a while. Even their prized catch Saifuddin got injured and became unaviable. Captain Najmul Shanto smartly marshaled his resources. 

First match against Dhaka Mehedi looked great with both bat and ball in narrow win. That must have given lot of energy to the young team. Now at the top of the table if they can win at least another match in the first round before Saifuddin gets match fit again it will put them in right stead. By that Ashraful may get back to match winning expertise. 

On the other hand, Khulna had a great escape against Barisal in their first match after their much-vaulted top order batsmen all big fishing got trapped in the net early. Today it was no different. Kayes made back to back ducks. Anamul was looking good but was smartly run out by Mehedi direct throw. Shakib looked very casual. After striking two fours he gifted away his wicket. Mahmudullah also played back to the bowler. From 5/51 in the 10th over it was again Ariful (41*) and Shamim (35) pulled Khulna out of ditch. Rajshahi kept bowling tight. 146/6 on not too difficult wicket was not a score to defend.

Rajshahi lost Emon early. But Captain Najmul played a flamboyant Innings of 55 in 34 deliveries and with him veteran Rony Talukdar contributed making 26. All eyes were on Ashraful how he performs. In his first match Naim brilliantly caught him. This time his wealth of experience counted. He was not in a hurry at all and took his time. Off course some hefty blows by Fazle Mahmud (24) let him settle. From there Ashraful piloted Rajshahi to the back-to-back win playing three delectable trade mark strokes. His unbeaten 25 must have given him confidence to get back on his strides.

Mention must be made of young leggie Rishad Hossain. On a wicket where even Shakib could not impress he took two wickets of well set Najmul Shanto and Rony Talukdar with brilliant deliveries. We must show patience with this youngster. 

BDST: 1745 HRS, NOV 26, 2020
AP/SMS