Barisal Bulls 167 for 3 (Malan 78*, Nafees 65) beat Chittagong Vikings 163 for 3 (Tamim 75, Jahurul 36) by seven wickets
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
File photo – Dawid Malan turned the match in Barisal Bulls’ favour with three consecutive sixes in a crucial over © Getty Images
Fifties from Dawid Malan and Shahriar Nafees struck fifties to help Barisal Bulls chase down 164 with five balls to spare against Chittagong Vikings. The pair added 150 runs for the second wicket to ease a chase that looked tense at one stage.
Malan was unbeaten on 78 off 48 balls with three fours and seven sixes, most of them hit high into the stands beyond the midwicket boundary. Nafees made a 59-ball 65 that had seven fours and a six, but his dismissal, followed by Thisara Perera’s wicket in the penultimate over gave Chittagong a hint of a chance before Mushfiqur Rahim finished the win with two boundaries in the last over.
Malan and Nafees came together in the second over when Josh Cobb was undone by Subashis Roy’s slower delivery for six. But the pace bowler dropped Malan on 8 off his own bowling in the sixth over. The pair batted well together, feeding each other the strike when one of the batsmen found boundaries frequently.
They got into the groove after the Powerplay but after the 13th over, the asking rate kept rising and Barisal went into the last three overs needing 34. Malan took pressure off the side and turned the match for them with three successive sixes off Dwayne Smith in the 18th over. Mushfiqur meanwhile, reached a milestone during his last-over heroics, becoming the first batsman to score more than 1,000 runs in the BPL.
Earlier when Chittagong batted first, Tamim Iqbal began with a lofted drive over cover in the third over before his trademark cuts, pulls, flicks and charge at bowlers brought him nine more fours and two sixes. He brought up his highest score in the BPL with his 75, moving past the 69 he scored in 2015. He fell to a slower ball from Kamrul Islam Rabbi in the 14th over after sharing 116 runs for the opening partnership. Jahurul, who fell in the following over, made 36 with four boundaries.
Tamim and Jahurul’s partnership came at 8.92 per over, which was also the first 100-plus opening partnership in this season. Chittagong, however, could not cash in on the base – they only added 47 runs in the remaining 6.5 overs, when Anamul Haque and Dwayne Smith conjured two fours and two sixes.
Mohammad Isam is ESPNcricinfo’s Bangladesh correspondent. @isam84
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Source: ESPN Crickinfo