Barisal canter to victory

Barisal Bulls moved to the top of the Bangladesh Premier League table by notching their third win in four matches when they romped to a victory target of 164 with two balls to spare and seven wickets in hand against Chittagong Vikings at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium today.

Skipper Mushfiqur Rahim scored the winning boundary off Dwayne Smith after one-down batsman Shahriar Nafees (65 off 59 balls) and opener Dawid Malan (78 not out in 48 balls) laid the platform for the big run chase. Rahim remained unbeaten on 10 off just four deliveries.

Earlier, a superb captain’s knock from Tamim Iqbal had propelled Chittagong Vikings to 163 for 3 in the 12th match of the fourth edition of the league. 

Barisal won the toss and invited Chittagong to bat first. Chittagong’s first wicket stand of 116 in 13.1 overs between Tamim and Jahurul Islam kept the Barisal bowlers at bay and threatened to take the game away from the Bulls. Tamim scored 75 from 51 balls with 10 fours and two massive sixes. Jahurul chipped in with 36.

Barisal bowlers fought back after the first-wicket partnership and took wickets to peg back Chittagong. Al-Amin Hossain, Abu Hider and Kamrul Islam picked up a wicket each while the rest of bowlers kept it tight and made run-making quite difficult for Chittagong batters on the slow Mirpur pitch.

Scores in Brief:

Chittagong Vikings: 163 for 3 (Tamim 75, Jahurul 36; Kamrul 1-21)

Barisal Bulls: 167 for 3 in 19.4 overs (Malan 78 not out, Nafees 65; Imran 2-30)

Result: Barisal Bulls won by seven wickets

Player-of-the-match: Dawid Malan