Mohammad Amir claimed a record-breaking 6-17 for Khulna Tigers against Rajshahi Royals in the Bangladesh Premier League to secure his side a place in the BPL final, to be held on January 17 in Dhaka.

Amir claimed the first six-for in the history of the BPL, and also broke the record for the best-ever T20 figures in Bangladesh, beating Shakib Al Hasan’s 6-18 for Prime Bank against Mohammedan in Sylhet in 2013. They are the second-best T20 figures by a Pakistani, behind Sohail Tanvir’s 6-14 for Rajasthan Royals against Chennai Super Kings in the inaugural Indian Premier League, while Sohail is also the only left-arm quick to take better figures than Amir in a T20.

Amir took the bulk of his wickets in a searing opening spell, helping reduce the Royals to 23-5 after 5.5 overs in the first Qualifier. He claimed four of the first five wickets to fall, including that of Andre Russell.

The Tigers didn’t have it all their own way, with Shoaib Malik putting on a lone hand of 80 in Royals’ unsuccessful chase. When Malik fell to Amir in the 18th over, he had all but 31 runs to his name, accounting for 72.73 per cent of Royals runs up until that point, though the 20 runs added after his dismissal meant he finished with 61.07 per cent of his side’s total.

The Tigers will face one of the Royals or Chattogram Challengers in the BPL final, with those two sides to contest the second Qualifier on Wednesday, 15 January.