Fortune Barishal 195 for 7 (Tamim 54, Mayers 46, Shoriful 4-34) beat Chittagong Kings 194 for 3 (Emon 78*, Nafay 66, Clark 44) by three wickets

Fortune Barishal crafted the second-highest chase to win a final in men's T20 cricket, knocking off 195 against Chittagong Kings with three wickets and three balls to spare. And with that they had successfully defended their BPL crown, having come into this season as defending champions. The packed house at the Shere Bangla National Stadium in Dhaka was treated to Barishal captain Tamim Iqbal striking a rapid fifty, before Kyle Mayers did the running in the middle overs and Rishad Hossain's two sixes sealed things.

Rishad slammed Binura Fernando and Hussain Talat for a six each in the last two overs before a wide finished things. The Chittagong players were left heart-broken but Barishal had been the most consistent team through the competition, winning 11 of their 14 games overall. This was a franchise that had spent big over the past two seasons, and it showed in their depth here, holding their nerve as the game swung both ways.

Chittagong had reached 194 for 3 thanks in large part to an opening stand of 121 from Parvez Hossain Emon - who carried his bat - and Khawaja Nafay. It would eventually prove to be insufficient.

Chittagong's record-breaking start

Given the make-up of their batting line-up, Chittagong were always banking on a good start. That's what Nafay and Parvez delivered. Chittagong were put in and Parvez kicked things off with two sixes off Tanvir Islam, before they got a pair of fours off Ebadot Hossain. Nafay got on top of Rishad from his first ball, lofting him over midwicket. Nafay struck Rishad for three sixes in his first two overs in all, and the pair became the first to register a century stand in a BPL final. Parvez reached his fifty in the 11th over, before Nafay struck Rishad over extra cover to reach his third fifty in the competition.

Barishal keep Chittagong below 200

Ebadot broke the opening stand in the 13th over, even giving Nafay a send-off and then the salute. Graham Clark at No. 3 struck two fours and three sixes on his way to 44 off 23 balls, a solid follow-up to such a strong start. He was run out in the last over, and Chittagong's top three has all struck at a rate of 150 or higher. Still, Barishal kept them from batting the opposition out of the game with help from Mohammad Ali - fresh off his five-for in the first qualifier, he kept the scoring rate down in his four overs to finish with 1 for 21. Ebadot, Mohammad Nabi and Mayers also bowled well in patches, although wickets were hard to come by.

Full report to follow...