Sylhet Strikers confirmed their place in the play-offs as the first team as they clinched a 31-run victory over Khulna Tigers in the Bangladesh Premier League at the Sylhet International Cricket Stadium today.

Sylhet is now at the top of the points table, thanks to Mashrafe Bin Mortaza's 16 points, which helped them qualify.

After Towhid Hridoy and Zakir Hasan set the tone with the bat for Sylhet, banging a 49-ball 74 and 53 off 38, Rubel Hossain appeared with the ruinous bowling, scalping four for 37, that paved the way for the side to continue their winning streak.

Rubel dismissed Andy Balbernie and Tamim Iqbal in the third over while chasing Sylhet's 193 before a 54-run stand between Shai Hope and Mahmudul Hasan Joy helped Khulna recover.

Hope fell to Rejaur Rahman Raja for 33 off 22 balls, but Khulna were doing slightly better in terms of scoring-rate than how the Sylhet innings had progressed after the end of nine overs.

Mohammad Amir then picked up Joy in the 13th over after a 21-ball 20.

However, with Azam smacking a quick-fire 17-ball 33 before falling to his compatriot Imad Wasim, Khulna chase was quickly slowed down as skipper Yasir Ali and Mohammad Saifuddin were unable to hold the nerve in the penultimate overs.

After Rubel, Amir and Raja bagged two each.

Earlier, sent to bat, Sylhet lost opener Najmul Hossain Shanto early, which slowed down their start.

However, Towhid and Zakir played cracking knocks and shared a pivotal 114-run stand to wrest momentum their way.

Towhid, who is enjoying a propel patch of his career in this BPL, was dismissed in the 16th over, and Nahidul Islam then picked up Zakir's wicket.

Then Ryan Burl's cameo 21-ball knock and Thisara Perera's gutsy 17 off the 7-ball propelled Sylhet to a commanding 192 for four.