Barisal Bulls edged Rangpur Riders by six-wicket in the rain-interrupted Bangladesh Premier League match to move to the top the points table that all but secured their place in the elimination round on Thursday.
Rain halted the game for nearly an hour after Rangpur Riders posted 104-9 in 20 overs and Barisal were given a revised target of 75 runs from 13 overs which they managed to chase down with three balls to spare.
Skipper Mahmudullah remained unbeaten on 23 from 18 balls to complete their fifth win in the tournament after Rony Talukdar gave them a positive start with an identical innings.
Riders’ left-arm spinner Arafat Sunny bagged two wickets but they were not enough to avoid their third defeat in the tournament.
Paceman Al-Amin Hossain, who is brilliant form throughout the tournament, set up the win with his opening burst when he dismissed Soumya Sarkar and Sakib al Hasan in the same over.
Soumya, who ended his 18 innings wait for a fifty in competitive cricket in the previous match, left without troubling the scorer and Sakib managed just one.
Opener Jahirul Islam held one end to score highest 24 runs for the team while Pakistani star Misbah-ul-Haq added 22 to give Riders something to fight with.
Riders were also indebted to young batsman Al Amin, who scored a quickfire 17 off 13 balls to help their score past 100-run mark.
Bulls’ fast bowler Al Amin Hossain picked up 3-30 while Pakistani pacer Mohammad Sami and West Indian medium pacer Rayad Emrit took two wickets each for them.
Riders’ coach Shane Jurgensen said that they failed to adapt to the condition and as a result they were beaten.
‘We didn’t assess the wicket well, and probably played a bit too aggressive,’ said Jurgensen.
‘You have to play like that in Twenty20s but we look back now at how we lost the wickets, we just needed a few more runs,’ he said.
‘We speak about adapting to conditions. We didn’t do that today. It wasn’t a 170 wicket but we didn’t play all that smartly unfortunately.
‘It is disappointing with the amount of talent we have in our line-up. Another 10-15 runs could have been a big difference now in the end result,’ he said.
Bulls’ pace bowler Al Amin Hossain said that he was elated to bring two of the most destructive batsmen of the country, Soumya and Sakib in the same over.
‘It feels great when I removed two of the best batsmen of the country. The wicket helped as it was conducive to pace bowling,’ said Al Amin.
‘The batsmen try to take risk in the first six overs and as a result they also make mistakes,’ he said.
Brief Scores
Rangpur Riders 104-9 in 20 overs (Jahurul 24, Misbah-ul Haq 22; Al-Amin 3-30, Sami 2-16, Emrit 2-18) v Barisal Bulls 75-4 in 12.3 overs (Rony 23, Mahmudullah 23 not out; Sunny 2-11).
Result: Barisal Bulls won by 6 wickets in D/L method.
Man of the match: Al-Amin Hossain (BB)
Source: New Age
