Kevin Cooper comes up with four wickets in last over to hand Barisal Bulls victory against Rangpur Riders

File Photo: Man of the Match Kevin Cooper’s all-round heroics gave Barisal Bulls victory

Barisal Bulls got off their Bangladesh Premier League 2015 campaign off to a rip-roaring start with a 13-run victory over Rangpur Riders, mainly on the strength of a crazy 20th over bowled by West Indies pacer Kevin Cooper.

Barisal Bulls, who were made to bat first by Riders captain Shakib al Hasan, got off to a dreadful start. Brendan Taylor’s departure in the third over saw them struggling at 4/3. Captain Mahmudullah took charge of proceedings from then on, leading the recovery.

99 runs were added in the last 10 overs as the late dash saw the Bulls innings finish at 155/9 – a respectable score considering the dreadful collapse early on.

Shakib al Hasan and Thisara Perera, the duo who opened the bowling, claimed best figures of the innings and were generally hard to play.

In reply, the Riders batting innings seemed to be cruising to chase down the target at one stage, but regular wickets falling made the chase hard for new batsmen coming in.

The final nail in their coffin was provided by 26-year-old Kevin Cooper, the fast bowler from Trinidad and Tobago who had faded away from the spotlight as quickly as he had come because of allegations of chucking some years ago. Cooper had featured shortly for Rajasthan Royals in the IPL.

Cooper, who had also helped the Bulls cause with his brisk 21 while batting, turned hero with the ball in the last over. 15 runs were required in the last 6 balls, and Darren Sammy was being goaded on by Riders fans to replicate his heroics from their last match. In a bizare turn of events, the last over produced only 1 run and an astounding four wickets.

Astoundingly, the last two overs of the match produced six wickets and only five runs.

Brief Scores:

Barisal Bulls 155/9 (Mahmudullah 51, Nadif Chowdhury 30; Shakib 3/23, Perera 3/29)

Rangpur Riders 142 all out (Md Mithun 55, Misbah 19; Cooper 5/15, Md Sami 2/35)

That's it, Barisal Bulls wins, 5 wickets for Tom Cooper. #BPL2015 #RRvBB

— BPL T20 (@BPL__T20) November 23, 2015

U don't need big names to win a game , Barisal Bulls have just showed us that !!!!!!!! :-D

— ZARIF HOSSAIN KHAN (@ZARIF_KHAN) November 23, 2015

All out. Barisal Bulls win by 13 runs. Biggest margin of win in this season so far. lol. #BPLT20

— Sampath (@SAMPATH_B24) November 23, 2015