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Giants ready to lock horns for BBPL title


Published : 17 Feb 2022 09:26 PM

The high voltage final of the Bangabanbandhu BPL will take place today with the heavyweights Fortune Barisal and Cumilla Victorians will lock horns at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium, Mirpur.  

Predictably the star-studded Fortune Barisal and Cumilla Victorians moved into the final when out of 10 outings, the former won seven and the later won six matches and now ready to combat to win the title. 

In their previous three times head to head meetings in the ongoing BBPL, Barisal had better dominance with winning two matches over the today’s contenders Cumilla. 

In their two robin league encounters, both sides were equal with Cumilla overpowered Barisal by 63 runs. After giving Barisal 159 runs winning target bundled out them for only 125 runs in the first match,.  

But the mighty Barisal just took sweet revenge over Cumilla when they won very next match of league phase by 32 runs and snatched 10 runs victory in the qualifiers game, the third meeting.  

Both the sides have every ability to win the trophy, as they have some match winners, who are very much illustrious in the international arena also, so the final will be a different ball game. 

The top favourites Barisal to lift the title will have to depend on how their stars shine on the day when they have Shakib Al Hassan, Dwayne Bravo, Chris Gayle, Nazmul Hassan Shanto and Mujib Ur Rahman. 

But Cumilla have also some sharp weapons to respond equally like, inform English all-rounder Moeen Ali, Faf du Plessis, Shunil Narine, local heroes Liton Das and Mustafizur Rahman. 

But in all respect, both the title contenders will have to wait how their stars will react on the day with their batting or bowling. 

Cumilla stormed into the final outplaying Chottagram Challengers by seven wickets when they reached in the winning target of 149 runs playing only 12.5 overs with all-rounders Moeen Ali and Shunil Narine playing outstanding role. 

Shunil Narine might be turned into great headache for Fortune Barisal when the Caribbean all-rounder having the opportunity to open the innings hit a record 13 balls 50 (57 off 16 balls) when his English all-round partner Moeen Ali also appeared on destructive mood with scoring 30 off 13 balls and taking three wickets. 

On the other hands, though the Fortune Barisal won their previous match against today’s opponents but none of the stars of could shine in accordance with their ability. Shakib Al Hassan looked feeble in both batting and bowling when the number all-rounder scored only one run and did not get any wicket. 

Master blaster Chirs Gayle yet to appear with his real character, Bravo, Mujib or Shanto could also not performed well. 

However, now it can be expected that it will be a very keenly contested and exciting match, though Cumilla is a bit ahead of Barisal in betting rate but it might be a 50-50 chance for both sides to lift the title.