Tamim, Barishal peak at the right time
The alarm bells were ringing for Fortune Barishal early on in their campaign, after the franchise with many veteran stars could manage just one win in their first four games.
The team, however, bounced back from that position under Tamim Iqbal's leadership and yesterday made it to the second qualifier with a comfortable seven-wicket win in the eliminator, ending Chattogram Challengers' campaign.
As the tournament has progressed, Tamim's leadership and his batting has gone from strength to strength.
Tamim's last five innings has produced three fifties and has rocketed him to the top of the BPL run-getters' list with 443 runs at an average of just over 36.
Tamim's tournament strike-rate of 125.49 has been a bit underwhelming but his scoring rate has picked up lately, having scored at a strike rate of 138.51 in his last five innings.
Barishal as a team are looking like a well-oiled machine on the field, which has led to them winning seven of their last nine games.
Tamim had an embarrassing moment on the field yesterday, dropping an easy catch of Josh Brown in the fifth over. But the34-year-old didn't get bogged down by the missed opportunity and went about his process as usual, something his side too is doing very well.
"I have set a very high standard on my fielding. That guy [Brown] could've been dangerous had he got going. After that [dropped catch] he hit two or three sixes and I felt those shots in my heart. When he eventually got out, I felt really relaxed," Tamim said at the post-match ceremony.
Tamim hit an unbeaten 52 off 43 balls to guide his team to victory after Kyle Mayers' blistering 50 off 26 balls set up the 136-run chase for Barishal. Mayers, who had also picked a couple of wickets, was named the player-of-the-match.
When asked if at any point he wanted to replicate Mayers, Tamim said, "No, no [smiles]. That's his game and my game is to find the gaps and stick to cricketing shots. I think I should not look to go outside of my strengths, that was what I was trying to do. Fantastic innings by Kyle, actually with bat and ball both."
Not only Tamim, Barishal as a team have seemingly hit their strides in the last stretch of the competition.
Tamim and Mayers have been doing well at the top-order, Mushfiqur Rahim is providing solidity in the middle-order, Mehedi Hasan Miraz has hit a few cameos, Mahmudullah Riyad has stepped up when needed and Mohammad Saifuddin has been striking it at 185.29.
Having two in-form fast bowling all-rounders in Mayers and Mohammad Saifuddin along with the reliable left-arm spin of Taijul Islam has strengthened their bowling department.
Barishal as a team have gotten better and better as the tournament has progressed and will be heading into the second qualifier on Wednesday full of confidence in their quest to become the first team to come out of the eliminator and win the BPL since Rangpur Riders did it in 2017.