Fortune Barishal 195 for 7 (Tamim 54, Mayers 46, Shoriful 4-34) beat Chittagong Kings 194 for 3 (Emon 78*, Nafay 66, Ali 1-21) by three wickets
Fortune Barishal crafted the second-highest chase to win a final in men’s T20 cricket, knocking off 195 against Chittagong Kings with three wickets and three balls to spare. And with that they had successfully defended their BPL crown, having come into this season as defending champions. The packed house at the Shere Bangla National Stadium in Dhaka was treated to Barishal captain Tamim Iqbal striking a rapid fifty, before Kyle Mayers did the running in the middle overs and Rishad Hossain’s two sixes sealed things.
Rishad slammed Binura Fernando and Hussain Talat for a six each in the last two overs before a wide finished the game. The Chittagong players were left heart-broken but Barishal had been the most consistent team through the competition, winning 11 of their 14 games overall. This was a franchise that had spent big over the past two seasons, and it showed in their depth here, holding their nerve as the game swung both ways.
Chittagong had reached 194 for 3 thanks in large part to an opening stand of 121 from Parvez Hossain Emon, who carried his bat with 78*, and Khawaja Nafay. It would eventually prove to be insufficient.
Given the make-up of their batting line-up, Chittagong were always banking on a good start. That’s what Nafay and Parvez delivered. Chittagong were put in, and Parvez kicked things off with two sixes off Tanvir Islam, before they got a pair of fours off Ebadot Hossain. Nafay got on top of Rishad from his first ball, lofting him over midwicket. Nafay struck Rishad for three sixes in his first two overs in all, and the pair became the first to register a century opening stand in a BPL final. Parvez reached his fifty in the 11th over, before Nafay struck Rishad over extra cover to reach his third half-century in the competition.
Barishal keep Chittagong below 200
Ebadot broke the opening stand in the 13th over, even giving Nafay a send-off and then the salute. Graham Clark at No. 3 struck two fours and three sixes on his way to 44 off 23 balls, a solid follow-up to such a strong start. He was run-out in the last over, and Chittagong’s top three all struck at a rate of 150 or higher. Still, Barishal kept them from batting the opposition out of the game with help from Mohammad Ali. Fresh off his five-for in the first qualifier, he kept the scoring rate down in his four overs to finish with 1 for 21. Ebadot, Mohammad Nabi and Mayers also bowled well in patches, although wickets were hard to come by.
In the first over of Barishal’s chase, Tamim caressed Binura for three fours through the off side. He repeated the exact dose for Shoriful Islam in the next over, though this time he had one boundary down the ground. Tamim reached his second fifty in a BPL final in the seventh over, having faced just 24 balls. He slammed Arafat Sunny for a four and a six, as Chittagong raced to 70 runs in the first seven overs.
Shoriful triggers mini slide
Shoriful turned things around with two wickets in the ninth over. He first removed Tamim, whose slam down the ground only found Khaled Ahmed at the long-off boundary. Then Shoriful rapped Dawid Malan’s pads; it looked at first that it might be sliding down the leg and the umpire agreed, but Shoriful was confident Chittagong should review. His captain Mohammad Mithun seemingly reluctantly agreed, but the bowler was proven right. Malan fell for 1, giving Chittagong a lifeline. Shortly afterwards, Towhid Hridoy struck Naeem Islam down midwicket’s throat to make it 96 for 3 in the 11th over.
All this didn’t bother Mayers much. He struck Talat for two sixes in the 12th over, before Mushfiqur Rahim fell for 16 in the following over. It was Naeem’s second wicket in as many overs, but Mayers was relentless. He struck a four and a six off Shoriful in the 15th, before pasting Binura for two fours in the following over. Mayers, who had conceded 30 runs in an over against Rangpur Riders earlier in the tournament, was using the biggest stage to make amends for Barishal.
Chittagong take it to the final over
Then, there was a slowdown. Mahmudullah and Mayers couldn’t find boundaries in the 17th and 18th overs, as Khaled and Shoriful bowled excellently. Shorfiul took the wickets of Mayers and Mahmudullah in his last over. Mayers swung one down deep square leg’s throat for 46 off 28 balls, before Shoriful had Mahmudullah caught behind for 7 off 11 deliveries. Nabi fell an over later, and at that point it seemed that Chittagong might have done enough. But Rishad didn’t think so.
