Tamim Iqbal played another captain’s knock to seal the Fortune Barishal’s place in the last fours when they defeated Comilla Victorians by six wickets in a vital encounter on Friday.
Fortune Barisal did the job successfully when they were in must win situation to make thier room in the Playoff in the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) cricket 2024.
Held at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium, Mirpur, Fortune Barishal, who had to win position to confirm their place in the knockout phase, overpowered the reigning champions Comilla Victorians.
Fortune Barishal, who accumulated 12 points from 11 matches before this match, were a bit uncertain to play in the Playoff phase, as Khulna Tigers were closely following them with 10 points before to play their last match, so the match turned into a must win situation for them (Barishal).
After winning the match Barishal now improved their tally to 14 from 12 matches and joined Rangpur Riders, Comilla Victorians and Chattogram Challengers, as the last team of the last fours.
It was the fourth defeat for the reigning champions Comilla Victorians, when they have already sealed their place in the knockout stage after winning their previous match against the table toppers Rangpur Riders, the first team to book room in Playoff stage.
However, on the day Barishal, captain Tamim Iqbal decided to field first after winning the toss and booked the holders for 140 runs and crossed the easy hurdle for six wickets with two balls remaining.
Tamim Iqbal, who got his second fifty in the ongoing BPL played a 48-ball 66 runs after coming to open the innings and piled up a 64-run from 57 deliveries in second wicket partnership and another 39 runs off 32 balls in third wicket stand with Mushfiqur Rahim to pave the way for Barishal to win the match.
However, Tamim, in his 66 runs knock plundered six four and three sixes before being got out off Andre Russel.
Despite losing the first wicket on 10 runs on the board, it was looked not too tough for Barishal to reach the winning target of 14, when Tamim Iqbal and Kyle Mayers were on the crease, though latter was a bit slower than his captain.
Kyle Mayers, after getting out for 25 off as many balls, Mushfiqur Rahim joined with Tamim but the veterans was more slower and could not accompany for a long, as he got out for 17 from 24 deliveries.
After losing Kyle Mayers and Mushfiqur Rahim, it looked Fortune Barishal going to fell into trouble, when Tamim Iqbal also left the crease after being caught by Towhid Hridoy off Russel with the team reduced to 122 by 17.5 overs, then the match was seemingly heading to Victorians favour.
When it needed 19runs form 13 balls, Mahmudullah Riyad, the other experienced batter along with Soumaya Sarker reached to target 141 runs with two balls remaining without any further disasters.
Earlier, Victorians, after being sent to bat first, the openers could score only 24 runs before losing the opener Sunil Narine for 16 runs off 18 runs with the scorecard reading only 24 runs in four overs when McCoy departed the partnership. The second wicket stand between Litton Das and Towhid Hridoy could not stay for a long when they struggled to add only 14 runs be the former was bowled by Taijul scoring only 12 off balls.
England all-rounder Moeen Ali coming at number five, looked to bring the team to a challenging position when he added 36 runs at fourth wicket partnership off 30 balls with Towhid Hridoy but when they were going to be danger McCoy struck again to pull out Towhid, who scored 25 from 26 deliveries.
Moeen Ali got out with Akif Javed sending him back for 23 off 22 balls and the English added only 10 runs with Andre Russel at sixth wicket stand, Victorians fell into deep trouble being reduced to 86 for five by 14.5 overs.
Late order Jaker Ali came to blows at number seven, when he just played a brilliant innings against the flow with smacking 38 runs off only 16 deliveries.
Jaker Ali in is rapid 38 runs innings cracked two fours and four sixes, as Victorians could reach to a respectable total of 140 runs.
Chasing to a mediocre target, Barishal, riding on the captain’s knock scored 141 runs with two balls remaining.