Sylhet Strikers boosted their top spot in the points table as they secured a six-wicket win in their league phase concluder courtesy a fifty by Zakir Hasan against the Khulna Tigers in the Bangladesh Premier League at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium on Wednesday.

With Zakir making a 46-ball 50 and 39 off 35 balls coming from Mushfiqur Rahim, Sylhet breezed past the paltry 113-8, losing just four wickets with 15 balls to spare.

Tanzim Hasan Sakib was the pick of the Sylhet bowlers, claiming 3-22, while Imad Wasim and Rubel Hossain took two wickets each.

Opting to bat, Khulna suffered a massive blow after they were limited to 51-5 inside the twelfth over.

Apart from Mahmudul Hasan Joy, no other batsman could go beyond the doorways of 30.

Following the dismissal of their top-order trio—Munim Shahriar, Shai Hope, and Andy Balbirnie for 3, 7, and 9, respectively.

Joy, who came at 4, then formed a 14, 16, 21, and 36-run stand in the fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh wicket stands with the skipper Yasir Ali, Sabbir Rahman, Mohammd Saifuddin, and Nahidul Islam, respectively, before he fell Sakib on 41 in 18.5 overs to pull the side to 113-8 in the stipulated overs.

Chasing down a meager total, Sylhet also made a shaky start, losing openers Towhid Hridoy and Najmul Hossain Shanto for 10 within the third over.

Towhid was removed by Saifuddin after he was caught by Hope behind the stumps, while Shanto was excluded on 5 by Nahidul.

Then, in the third wicket stand, Bangladesh’s veteran batsman Mushfiqur along with the young-star Zakir shared a match-winning 80-ball, 90 run stand to propel Sylhet to the target, managing 114-4 in 17.3 overs.

After the match, Zakir acknowledged that it was Mushfiqur who encouraged him to form such a healthy stand to seal their victory in the final tie in the league phase of the competition.

‘Mushfiq Bhai told me that we could form a 30 run stand that would be substantial enough to win the game.'