Sylhet Strikers defeated Khulna Tigers by 31 runs in the second match of Monday in the ongoing Bangladesh Premier League (BPL). As a result of this victory, Sylhet made their position stronger at the top of the table.

Khulna captain Yasir Ali won the toss and sent Sylhet into bat at the Sylhet International Cricket Stadium. Sylhet started slowly in batting. Opener Najmul Hossain Shanto, who was in great form, could not do much good on this day. Shanto got out after scoring 6 runs from 12 balls.

But then the two young batters of Sylhet Strikers Towhid Hridoy and Zakir Hasan made a big 114-run partnership for the second wicket. Hridoy picked up the fifty quickly. Zakir was giving him worthy company from the other end. Finally, Hridoy stopped 74 runs off 49 balls before returning to the dressing room. Zakir also departed after making a fifty. Zakir played an outstanding innings of 53 runs off 38 balls.

After that Ryan Burl and Thisara Perera did the rest quite well. Sylhet made a huge total of 192 runs losing 4 wickets in 20 overs. Burl scored 21 runs from 11 balls. On the other hand, Perera scored 17 runs off 7 balls. Mark Deyal took 2 wickets for Khulna at the cost of 40 runs. Besides, Nahid Rana and Nahidul Islam took 1 wicket each.

Khulna couldn't get off to a good start chasing a big target. Two openers Tamim Iqbal and Andy Balbirnie returned within 20 runs of the team. Then Shai Hope tried to make some resistance. But Hope's good times didn't last long. Despite getting off to a good start, Hope was bowled out for the team’s 74 runs. He scored 33 runs off 22 balls.

Azam Khan then showed aggressive batting. But he could not extend the innings. Azam was dismissed after playing a quick innings of 33 runs from 17 balls arranged with 4 fours and 2 sixes. None of the rest of Khulna's batters could do anything special. At the end of 20 overs, Khulna's innings ended at 161 runs after losing 9 wickets. Sylhet won by 31 runs.

Rubel Hossain took 4 wickets conceding 37 runs in 4 overs for Sylhet. Apart from that, Rejaur Rahman Raja and Mohammad Amir took 2 wickets each.

As a result of this victory, Sylhet Strikers strengthened the top position of the table with 16 points from 8 wins after playing 10 matches. On the other hand, Khulna are in the fifth position in the points table with 4 points from 2 wins in 8 matches.