ESPNcricinfo staff
February 27, 2012
Khulna Royal Bengals 186 for 2 (Smith 103*, Gibbs 41) beat Sylhet Royals 117 (Tanvir 26*) by 69 runs
Dwayne Smith scored the third hundred of the Bangladesh Premier League, setting up an easy win for Khulna Royal Bengals against Sylhet Royals in Mirpur, in the tournament's final group match. The victory places Khulna at No. 2 on the points table, meaning they will play the third-placed Dhaka Gladiators in the semi-finals on Tuesday. Meanwhile, top-placed Duronto Rajshahi will take on No. 4 Chittagong Kings in the first semi-final.
Khulna was asked to bat and faced an early set-back, losing opener Shivnarine Chanderpaul early. From there on, though, they dominated, first through Herschelle Gibbs - who made 41 off 28 - and then Smith. Smith, batting at No 3, finished the innings unbeaten on 103 off 73 balls with six fours and six sixes, splitting his West Indies team-mate Chris Gayle's tournament-record scores of 101 not out and 116.
That meant Khulna set Sylhet a stiff target of 187, and they never really seemed to seriously threaten it. Sylhet slipped to their eighth loss in ten matches, with no one scoring more than No. 8 Sohail Tanvir's 26 not out. Eventually Sylhet folded for 117 in 16 overs, handing Khulna a 69-run win. While the Khulna bowlers rather evenly shared the wickets around, left-arm spinner Abdur Razzak finished with the best figures of 2 for 8 in two overs.
