Barisal cruise to victory

Barisal Bulls gave Rangpur Riders a real pasting today as they won comfortably by six wickets in the rain-affected match.

Bulls captain Mahmudullah remained unbeaten on 23 from 18 with two boundaries and took his team home. Rony and Nadif contributed with useful runs for Barisal.

For Rangpur Arafat Sunny took two wickets while Shakib Al Hasan and Wahab Riaz captured one each.

Nadif Chowdhury was the fourth man down for Barisal when he was sent back by Sunny at the cusp of victory.

Mehedi Maruf of Barisal was next to go after Rony when he walked down the pitch to a Shakib delivery and was stumped by miles.

He scored only three and his departure gave Riders the confidence to take this match to the wire.

Rony Talukdar took on Arafat Sunny, clobbered the spinner for a six and then perished in the next ball as his temper got the better of him.

The Barisal batsman fell in the sixth over after scoring 23 runs from 19 balls with three boundaries and a six to his name. His contribution could yet turn out to be crucial in this low scoring affair under the lights at Chittagong.

The rain delay caused seven overs to be lost, and the revised target for Barisal became 75 after umpires decided to resume play.

Rain played the spoilsport after only three overs into Barisal’s chase and delayed proceedings at Chittagong.

Barisal were 19 for the loss of one wicket after 3.3 overs when the umpires decided to go off the field.

Wahab Riaz gave Riders their first breakthrough when his swinging full delivery trapped Evin Lewis in front. Lewis spent 14 minutes at the crease for his four runs.

Rangpur Riders bowlers began the defense of their paltry total spiritedly, and were eager to make the new ball count.

Earlier, Wahab Riaz was dismissed in the penultimate over, when Al-Amin Hossain capped off a good day with his third victim.

Riders batsman plays a shot during BPL-2015. File Photo: STAR

The slower ball from the Barisal pacer did the trick, as Wahab mistimed his shot to deep midwicket. Wahab scored 12 with two fours.

Rayad Emrit took his second wicket in the 18th over to polish off Rangpur’s tail in this game. He bowled Al-Amin for 17 when the Rangpur batter tried to play a scoop shot and missed badly.

Al-Amin’s brief knock was made to look important considering the sorry context of the match for the Riders.

Mohammad Sami of Barisal Bulls stabbed the dagger deeper into the heart of Rangpur’s innings when he sent back two important batsmen for the Riders in the 14th over.

Mohammad Nabi got a short, wide ball from Sami that he could smash to any part of the ground but only managed to cut it straight to Maruf at backward point.

Sami’s short rising delivery on off was too good for Misbah-ul-Haq as the Rangpur batter only managed to glove the ball to the keeper. Misbah contributed substantially to Rangpur’s total with 22 runs from 27 balls with three boundaries.

Prasanna got in the act of taking wickets, and sent back the dangerous Perera for only nine in the 13 th over to put Barisal firmly in control of the match.

Barisal Bulls were dictating terms to Rangpur as Emrit inflicted another blow to the Riders’ batting line-up by getting rid of Jahurul Islam in the tenth over.

Jahurul kept one end secured for the Riders as wickets tumbled, and scored 24 from 32. He smashed a four and a six in his useful knock.

Riders lost their big name players Soumya and Shakib in one super over from Barisal’s red-hot Al-Amin Hossain. Taijul struck another blow in the sixth over to send their opponents on the back foot at Chittagong.

Mohammad Mithun lasted only nine balls, could manage only two runs before giving Taijul Islam his first wicket of the day. Mithun’s dismissal was similar to catching practice during nets.

Shakib Al Hasan played an ugly shot, and probably had a rush of blood when he went down the track to Al-Amin. Riders captain was safely held at mid-on, left the field shaking his head and after playing only three balls today.

The second over signaled the beginning of Rangpur’s slide, after Soumya Sarkar was dismissed for a first-ball duck by Al-Amin.

Barisal Bulls captain Mahmudullah had earlier won the toss and decided to bowl first against the Rangpur Riders at ZAC stadium in the first match of the day.

Barisal Bulls

Rony Talukdar (Wicketkeeper), E Lewis, Mehedi Maruf, Sabbir Rahman, Mahmudullah (Captain), Nadif Chowdhury, S Prasanna, Mohammad Sami, Al-Amin Hossain, Taijul Islam and RR Emrit

Rangpur Riders

Wahab Riaz, Muktar Ali, Arafat Sunny, Al-Amin, Mohammad Nabi, Jahurul Islam, Soumya Sarkar, Shakib Al Hasan (Captain), Mohammad Mithun (Wicketkeeper), Misbah-ul-Haq and NLTC Perera

Barisal players celebrate the fall of wicket in BPL-2015. File Photo: STAR