Dhaka Dynamites vs Khulna Titans, BPL 2016 Qualifier 1 Preview: Contest evenly poised

Dhaka Dynamites will lock horns with Khulna Titans in the first Qualifier of the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) 2016-17 at the Shere Bangla National Stadium, Mirpur, Dhaka. Shakib-al-Hasan led Dhaka Dynamites (DD) and Mahmudullah led Khulna Titans (KT) are placed at No. 1 and No. 2 position respectively. The Dynamites won 8 of their 12 group matches and accumulated 16 points with a Net Run-Rate of +0.912. The Titans, on the other hand, won 7 games and earned 14 points with a Net Run-Rate of -0.215. Both these teams would definitely be looking to win this clash as the winner would be earning the spot in the finals of the BPL 2016-17.

This being the first of the two qualifiers of the tournament, both teams would be looking to seal their place in the finals with the first opportunity they get. The losing team from this clash would be playing against the winner of the first eliminator which will be played between Chittagong Vikings vs Rajshahi Kings.

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Previously, these two teams met each other twice in the group stages and both times the Titans emerged victoriously. The last time they met was in match No. 42 of the group stage where the Titans emerged victorious as they successfully chased down the target of 159 in just 18 overs. The Titans’ skipper Mahmudullah was adjudged Man-of-the-Match for his innings of 50 runs from just 28 balls, which consisted of 5 boundaries and 2 huge sixes.

Likewise, the Titans also won the first game by 9 runs in what was the match No. 18 of the tournament.

The Titans have emerged as the surprise package in this season as they had a shaky start to the tournament but slowly they upped their performance and reached the second position in the points table.

The Dynamites have lost 4 matches in the due course of the tournament and surprisingly two of the defeats have come up against the Titans. At this very crucial juncture of the tournament, the Dynamites would be eager to set the scores level and avenge the two defeats while the Titans would he hoping for the same performance to cement their place in the finals.

The Dynamites have a good leader in the form of Shakib, who is regarded as one of the best cricketers Bangladesh have ever produced. On the other hand, Mahmudullah has been the lynchpin for the Titans’ success as he has performed excellently with both bat and ball.

The losing team will get one more chance to reach the finals as they will play in the second qualifier, but none of the team would want to wait for the second chance.

So will all this happening, this first qualifier definitely promises to be a cracker of a game!