Towhid Hridoy hit a blistering fifty that powered the Sylhet Strikers to seal successive three wins in the ongoing edition of the Bangladesh Premier League as they earned a five-wicket win against the defending champion Comilla Victorians at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium on Monday.

With Towhid smacking a 37-ball 56 and Mushfiqur Rahim standing on 28 off 25 Sylhet reached to 150-5, with 14 balls to spare, in reply to a moderate 149-6, posted by their Comilla counterpart.

Khushdil Shah and Mohammad Nabi claimed two wickets each for the titlists while Jaker Ali Anik remained unbeaten on 57 off 43 balls as a highest scorer for the side.

Conversely, Thisara Perera and Mohammad Amir were the picks among the Sylhet bowlers scalping two wickets each.

Sent to bat, Comilla made a decent start with their Liton Das hitting, opening the innings hitting Perera a boundary followed by another four in the third delivery.

However, Bangladesh's key campaigner couldn’t keep going with the same rhythm further after he was removed in the next ball as Mohammad Haris caught him comfortably at deep point that limited the side to 9-1 at the very first over.

In the second wicket stand Dawid Malan and Shyakat Ali shared a 22-ball 28 to curb the initial damages before the latter was cut by the Pakistani bowler Imad Wasim followed by the dismissal of their skipper Imrul Kayes for 2 by another Pakistani bowler Mohammad Amir to leave the title holders to a staggering 46-3.

However, their crucial 53 off 49 balls stand came in the next stand with Jaker and Shykat Ali standing tall against the Sylhet bowlers prior to the removal of the latter for 20 by Imad.

Then, Jaker carried on lone handedly to pull the side close to the threshold of one hundred and fifty in the stipulated overs.

In the post-match press conference Jaker rued their defeat despite hitting his maiden fifty in BPL.

‘Of course I am feeling well but I would have felt better if we could win the game.’

Pursuing a humble 150, Sylhet lost their Pakistani opener Mohammad Haris for 6 by Abu Haider Rony.

In the second wicket stand Najmaul Hossain Shanto and Towhid formed a valuable 43-run stand to overcome the early pressure before the former gave a catch to Imrul for 19.

Later riding on Towhid and Mushfiqur’s gutsy bat Sylhet reached the target in 17.4 to complete their straight three victories in the contention.

sportsmail24/MH