Team of the tournament Fortune Barishal pulled the final game of the Bangladesh Premier League back under their control after getting smashed around in the first six overs by Comilla Victorians.
The Sher-e-Bangla stadium in Dhaka saw an emphatic comeback from the Shakib Al Hasan-led team after they were smashed all around the park by Sunil Narine. Down by 73/2 after the first 5 overs, Barishal struck back with Mahmudul Hasan Joy, Faf du Plessis and Imrul Kayes in a space of four overs. This effectively wiped off Comilla’s middle order and forced them into retreat despite a tremendous opening few overs.
Abu Hider and Moeen Ali stabilised the fall of wickets, by patiently ticking off bowlers without taking any sort of risks against the spirited spell of bowling.
Both batsmen took the Comilla innings past the 15-over mark, which at a point did not look possible. They left it late to start counter hitting Barishal back and the opportunity presented itself in the 18th over of the game.
Mehedi Hasan in his final over was hit for two sixes, leaking out 15 runs in the death overs. Comilla would have loved for it to continue, but the very next over from Dwayne Bravo once again put a lid on the runrate.
However, Comilla knew that inexperienced Shafiqul Islam would be bowling the last over and they could get at least 15 from that one. But alas, it was not to be.
A run out in the first ball and two wickets off short balls did the trick for Barishal and they managed to keep Barishal restricted to just 151 runs.