Barisal Bulls held their nerve and clinched a thrilling four-run win against Rajshahi Kings in a high-scoring Bangladesh Premier League 4 encounter in Mirpur’s Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium on Sunday. Rajshahi No 3 batsman Sabbir Rahman played a brilliant innings of 122 off just 61 balls. The right-hander blasted nine sixes and as many boundaries during his knock. Sabbir was dropped by Al Amin Hossain at short third-man when he was on 14 and the dashing batsman fully capitalised on the dropped opportunity, playing one of the best innings in BPL history. But his magnificent innings was not enough for Rajshahi who eventually fell short by four runs in their pursuit of Barisal’s 192/4. Rajshahi were favourites to win the game when Sabbir was at the crease but when he got out in the last ball of the 16th over, the match swung in favour of Barisal. In the final over, nine runs were required but Abul Hasan Raju and Nurul Hasan managed only four. Al Amin took three wickets for Barisal conceding 35 runs. Earlier, Rajshahi captain Darren Sammy won the toss and elected to field. Barisal made one change to their line-up from the previous match, opener Shamsur Rahman making way for middle-order batsman Nadif Chowdhury. Barisal made a poor start as opening batsman Dilshan Munaweera returned to the pavilion without scoring. The other opener Dawid Malan was dismissed after scoring 13; Barisal in all sorts of trouble in the fifth over.
Barisal captain Mushfiqur Rahim raises his bat after reaching his half-century DHAKA TRIBUNE
However, one-drop batsman Shahriar Nafees and skipper Mushfiqur Rahim produced a magnificent 112-run partnership for the third wicket, thus building a solid platform for Barisal. Shahriar scored 63 off 44 balls with four fours and four sixes. He departed in the 16th over off the bowling of Sammy while trying to pull a rising delivery. But Mushfiq was solid at the other end, remaining unbeaten till the completion of their innings. Mushfiq scored a 52-ball 81 with the help of five fours and four sixes. All of his sixes came courtesy of his trade-mark slog sweep. Thisara Perera also scored a quickfire 11-ball 24, featuring three sixes, to lift the score to 192. Farhad Reza was the most successful bowler for Rajshahi picking up two wickets conceding 22 runs. BRIEF SCORE Rajshahi Kings 188/6 (Sabbir 122, Sammy 27, Al Amin 3/35) lost to Barisal Bulls 192/4 (Mushfiq 81, Shahriar 63, Farhad 2/22) by four runs Source: Dhaka Tribune
