Dhaka Dominators batter Mohammad Mithun starred with his first fifty of the ongoing Bangladesh Premier League to help his side beat second-placed Fortune Braishal by five wickets at the Sylhet International Cricket Stadium on Tuesday.
 

Playing in his 10th match, Mithun came out of his batting slump and smashed six fours and three sixes for his 36-ball 54 after coming out to open the innings for Dhaka chasing Barishal's 156 for eight.

Having set up the chase, the right-handed batter, however, couldn't see his team through as he fell lbw to Barishal's Sunzamul Islam but skipper Nasir Hossain scored an unbeaten 16-ball 20 to take his team home for their third win of the tournament.

Batting first after winning the toss, Barishal posted 156 for eight, courtesy of Anamul Haque Bijoy's 35-ball 42 and Mahmuduallah Riyad's 27-ball 39. 

Barishal struggled with the bat and were reduced to 66 for four in the 11th over but Mahmudullah kept the scoreboard ticking and a blistering cameo by Karim Janat who hit two sixes and a four in five-ball 17 took their total beyond the 150-mark.

After their death bowling debacle in the previous match, Dhaka tightened things up and were disciplined in their approach as all six bowlers used by their skipper Nasir scalped a wicket each except for Pakistani recruit Ami Hamza who picked up two wickets for 22 runs.

Their batters responded well too as they got off to a flier thanks to their openers Soumya Sarker and Mithun who put together a 74-run stand before the former nicked one off Karim Janat after scoring 22-ball 37 that included four fours and two sixes.

Debutant Abdullah Al Mamun impressed with a 21-ball 26 but played tried to play one shot too many as skied one off Sunzamul Islam after heaving him twice over mid-wicket for two sixes.

Nasir kept it steady and at the other end, it was an eventful outing for Alex Blake as he hit his first four of the tournament in his third BPL match and didn't have to wait long for his second and third boundary which brought Dhaka to the brink of victory. Blake wanted to finish off proceedings with a six but was caught at deep square-leg off Barishal skipper Shakib Al Hasan who also bowled a ripper of an arm-ball to castle Ariful Islam but it wasn't enough as Dhaka over the finish line with seven balls to spare.