The Sylhet Strikers, led by Mashrafe Bin Mortaza, secured their place in the top-two of playoffs of the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) with a comfortable six-wicket victory over the Khulna Tigers on Wednesday in Mirpur. 

The Strikers secured their spot in the top two by effortlessly defeating the Tigers by six wickets, despite Mashrafe not being able to bowl a single over in the game due to a potential muscle injury upon his return to the field.

Khulna, who batted first after winning the toss, started poorly, losing a couple of early wickets and being reduced to 21/3 in the sixth over.

Imad Wasim, Rubel Hossain, and Tanzim Hossain Sakib all took wickets with the ball for the Strikers, with Sakib picking up three, Imad and Rubell two each, and Mohammad Amir one.

Chasing a target of 114, the Strikers lost their openers early, but a 90-run partnership between Zakir Hasan and Mushfiqur Rahim sealed the win. Zakir scored a fifty off 46 balls and Mushfiqur played a 39-run knock of 35 balls.

Imad Wasim was named player of the match for his fantastic spell of 4-0-10-2. Mashrafe expressed his delight at finishing in the top two and acknowledged that the team would miss Imad and Amir as they head to the Pakistan Super League.

Khulna's captain, Shai Hope, admitted that the players let themselves down, citing poor execution as the reason for the loss. It was Khulna’s ninth defeat in 11 matches. They will play the last match of the season on February 10th against Fortune Barishal.