Rangpur Riders 172 for 6 (Shamim 71, Talukdar 29, Khaled 2-23) beat Fortune Barishal 170 for 3 (Mehidy 69, Mahmudullah 34, Shanaka 2-23) by four wickets
Rangpur Riders kept themselves in the hunt for a place in the BPL final after beating Fortune Barishal in Eliminator by four wickets. They will now face the losing side from Qualifier 1, starting later this evening.
The match went down to the wire with Riders needing eight runs in the last over. Mahedi Hasan, though, settled the matter with two fours - the first a scoop and the second a thick outside edge - off Kamrul Islam, with three balls to spare. But it was Shamim Hossain, batting at No. 3 for the first time this season, who kept Rangpur's chase intact. He struck four fours and as many sixes in his 51-ball 71, his highest T20 score, before holing out to long-on off Khaled Ahmed.
Rangpur had lost Mohammad Naim for a duck in the first over of their 171-run chase when the left-hander skied Shakib Al Hasan. Rony Talukdar and Shamim shook off the early wicket with a 61-run stand. Talukdar struck two fours and two sixes in his 17-ball 29, before holing out to deep cover.
Rangpur captain Nurul Hasan and Nicholas Pooran, who returned to the BPL after four years, fell in quick succession. Shakib trapped his opposite number with a classic arm-ball, before taking Pooran's catch in the covers off a Khaled full-toss.
Batting first, Barishal posted 170 for 3, an underwhelming total given how well they were batting in the middle overs. Andre Fletcher, who arrived for Barishal last night, added 46 for the first wicket with Mehidy Hasan Miraz, before Mahmudullah took the side to 115 for 1 in the 14th over. It seemed like the perfect base but Mehidy and Mahmudullah fell in the space of 11 balls, leaving the rest of the Barishal batters to go big. But Karim Janat and Bhanuka Rajapaksa could add only 44 runs in the last 4.5 overs.
Dasun Shanaka was the pick of the bowlers for Riders with figures of 2 for 23 from his three overs but it was Dwayne Bravo who dried up the scoring with his variations even if he didn't pick up a wicket.
