Barisal Bulls rode on a fourth-wicket partnership of 49 between captain Mushfiqur Rahim and Sri Lankan all-rounder Thisara Perera to clinch a six-wicket victory over defending champions Comilla Victorians in a group game of Bangladesh Premier League 2016 on Friday.
With the win, the Bulls grabbed their first win of this year’s edition which will be of some relief for them. Perera for his unbeaten 34 of 20 balls and 1/20 from his four overs was declared the man-of-the-match.
Chasing 130 as the target at the Shere Bangla National stadium in Dhaka, Barisal opener Dilshan Munaweera stuck two delightful boundaries before getting out caught at mid-off in the fifth over. However, new batsman Dawid Malan hit two fours in the same over to relieve the pressure.
Comilla captain Mashrafe Mortaza and Nabil Samad succeeded in stifling the runs in the next few overs thereafter. In six overs in between them the duo just gave away 26 runs which put immense pressure on the batsmen in the middle.
The constant pressure resulted in the wicket of Shamsur Rahman, who looked very ungainly in his innings of 16. He returned to the dugout, perishing at long on in the 11th over.
With the asking rate climbing up every ball, Mushfiqur took matters into his own hands by clubbing a six in the next over. Malan then edged one to the ropes in the 13th over from Mohammad Sharif but the very next ball he was dismissed.
Mashrafe finished with figures of 0/21 from his quota of four overs as Barisal needed 52 off the last six. Mushfiqur and Perrera collected a few boundaries thereafter but then in the 17th over the game turned on its head.
Both batsmen smashed a six each to collect 17 runs of the Imad Wasim over. Mushfiqur fell shortly after that but Perera hit two boundaries in the penultimate over to clinch the issue for his side.
Earlier, while batting Comilla only managed to get to 129/8 in their 20 overs. Marlon Samuels top scored for them with a run-a-ball 48. Sohail Tanvir with 30 was another major contributor.
The defending champions never really got going in their innings and were constantly pegged back by the loss of wickets. At one stage they were tottering at 73/6. If it wasn’t for the 38-run stand between Samuels and Tanvir they would not have got to the total.
Samuels, who came into bat at No.4 was involved in two run-outs of Nazmul Hossain Shanto and Imad Wasim and the likes of Liton Das and Nahidul Islam did not last long too. Therefore only he was the man who could get them out of trouble. He did so, but he wasn’t at his fluent best.
After the departure of Samuels, Tanvir hit a few big ones to get some late runs.
Brief Scores: Comilla Victorians—129/8 (Marlon Samuels 48, Sohail Tanvir 30, Abu Hider 2/34); Barisal Bulls—130/4 (Thisara Perera 34*, Mushfiqur Rahim 33, Nabil Samad 1/12)
Result: Barisal Bulls won the match with six wickets and 9 balls to spare
Samit Patel takes Rajshahi Kings to a sensational victory
In another game on the day, England all-rounder Samit Patel came up with a whirlwind knock of 44 from 25 balls to help his side Rajshahi Kings grab a six-wicket win over Dhaka Dynamites at the Shere Bangla stadium in Mirpur.
Chasing a below par total of 139, the Kings got off to a good start but then lost both their openers with 27 on the scoreboard. First, it was Mominul Haque who was run-out by Mosaddek Hossain for 9 and then it was Rony Talukdar who was stumped (14).
Pakistan batter Umar Akmal then joined Sabbir Rahman in the middle and the duo stitched together a very useful partnership of 38 runs. The stand was an effective one as it got the Kings, the momentum they needed. Akmal got out in the 10th over with his side still needing 74 runs but his departure brought Patel to the crease.
The English batsman knew if he had to win the game for his side he would need to take the attack to the opposition and that is what precisely he did.
En route to his 44 runs he hit 6 boundaries and a maximum. Rahman at the other end gave him good company by just knocking the ball around. By the time the latter was caught behind, the Kings were in touching distance of the Dynamites total and Patel did the needful by hitting the winning runs.
In the first innings, after being sent into bat the Dhaka Dynamites innings never quite got going. At one stage they were reeling at 4/43 and looked like they would not even get close to 120.
Then Mosaddek along with Ravi Bopara bailed them out of the situation. They put on a partnership of 54 runs for the fifth wicket to steady the innings. But then Bopara got out.
Mosaddek hit a few in the slog overs to remain unbeaten on 59 alongside Dwayne Bravo who contributed 13 but the total at the end of the day the total was just not enough.
Brief Scores: Dhaka Dynamites—138/5 (Mosaddek Hossain 59, Mehedi Maruf 25, Mehedi Miraz 2/22, Samit Patel 2/20 ); Rajshahi Kings—139/4 (Samit Patel 44*, Sabbir Rahman 31, Abu jayed 1/14)
Result: Rajshahi Kings won the contest with six wickets and 11 balls remaining
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