Fortune Barisal completed half the work in the first innings. 7 wickets for 77 runs – winning the toss and putting the strong batting line-up of Rangpur Riders in the face of such collapse! Although Rangpur later stood up, the end was not saved. Tamim Iqbal’s team Barisal reached the final of BPL for the fourth time by winning by 6 wickets with 9 balls remaining in Rangpur’s 149 runs. They will face four-time champions Comilla Victorians in the final.
Even after the collapse of Rangpur, Shamim Hossain’s thoughts were different. He pulled Rangpur from the rubble in an incredible display of 360 degree batting. Together with Shakib Al Hasan, he set the record for the fastest half-century (20 balls) in this year’s BPL. Shamim’s unbeaten innings of 59 runs off 24 balls gave Rangpur a capital of 149 runs for 7 wickets.
But 149 runs was not enough to stop a star-studded batting line-up like Barisal in the night match. Mushfiqur Rahim’s unbeaten innings of 47 runs off 38 balls brought Barisal to victory in the 18.3rd over. In the run chase, Barisal once again showed how great strength experience is in T20 cricket. Tamim-Mushfiq are supposed to have memorized how to win the match at 7 and a half run rate by now.One will play at a strike rate of 120, with a small cameo of two each to take the team to the port of victory. Mushfiqur Rahim did that for Barisal. Two openers Tamim Iqbal and Mehdi Hasan Miraj were out of the team’s 22 runs, but Mushfiqur’s innings did not let Barisal worry. Courtesy of him, Barisal got three pairs in the middle overs.
Fate was also in favor of Mushfiq. At the beginning of the innings, he was saved from being run out twice after hitting a four to the inside edge and a six to the top edge. Rangpur had to exploit those opportunities. One wicket after another had to be taken. But Mushfiq did not let it happen. Soumya (22 from 18 balls) made a pair of 47 runs from 37 balls by blowing off the initial pressure. Later he added another 50 off 27 balls with Kyle Meyers (28 off 15).
The match was lost from the hands of Rangpur in that pair. Mushfiqur went the rest of the way with David Miller. The two made a pair of unbeaten 33 runs off 24 balls. Mushfiqur’s unbeaten 47 runs came from 38 balls with 6 fours and 1 six. 22 unbeaten runs from 18 balls came from Miller’s bat.
Looking at the scoreboard of Rangpur, Shamim’s innings is visible. Shamim, who was dismissed for 0 runs in the opening match in the previous match, dropped seven yesterday. When he came to the crease after Shakib-Nisham failed, Rangpur were 76 for 6 in 14.2 overs. Two balls after Shamim came into bat, the wickets stood at 7, the team’s runs were 77. Rangpur’s latest recognized batsman Nurul Hasan is also out. However, Abu Haider partnered with Shamim and hit a six over the head of James Fuller who took 3 wickets on the first ball.
The duo’s incredible partnership of 72 runs off 31 balls started from there. Rony’s contribution to the pair is 12 runs from 9 balls. Aran Shamim wrote the rest of the story of Rangpur getting a run to fight for. The 23-year-old left-hander was at the crease for 33 minutes, playing 24 balls.
Shamim scored 59 runs with 5 fours and 5 sixes at a strike rate of 245, of which 25 runs were behind the wicket. He took 37 runs in the last two overs of the innings. Start with scoop, reverse scoop, slug sweep; Then the traditional shots like pull, drive and cut shot came out one by one. It was Shamim who made Rangpur dream of the final in half an hour of incredible cricket. Although that dream was not fulfilled in the end.
Summary Score:
Rangpur Riders: 149/7 in 20 overs (Rony 8, Mehdi 2, Shakib 1, Neesham 28, Pooran 3, Nabi 12, Nurul 14, Shamim 59*, Abu Haider 12*; Myers 4-0-22-1, Saifuddin 4 –0–27–2, McCoy 4–0–53–0, Fuller 4–0–25–3, Mirage 2–0–9–1, Taijul 2–0–9–0)
Fortune Barisal: 152/4 in 18.3 overs (Miraj 8, Tamim 10, Soumya 22, Mushfiq 47*, Myers 28, Miller 22*; Farooqui 4-0-16-1, Mehdi 2-0-25-0, Abu Haider 4-0-37-2, Neesham 1-0-16-0, Hasan 3-0-17-0, Nabi 3-0-20-1, Shakib 1.3-0-17-0).
Result: Fortune Barisal won by 6 wickets.
Man of the Match: Mushfiqur Rahim