Fortune Barishal came up with yet another resolute performance to confirm a spot in the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) final after thrashing Rangpur Riders by six wickets in the second Qualifier game at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium on Wednesday.
Barishal which now won two successive knock out matches will take on Comilla Victorians in the final on Friday.
Comilla sealed a spot in the final, beating Rangpur in the first Qualifier. It was however a disappointing outing for Rangpur which ended the group as table topper after winning nine matches. But when it mattered most, they failed to deliver.
The rot started with losing the toss yet again. Put into bat first, Rangpur tasted a batting debacle, like the first Qualifier, which proved to be key in losing second knock out matches in a row.
While James Neesham was saviour for them in the previous game, this time Shamim Patwari provided the impetus as he hammered a brutal 24 ball-59 not out to steer the side to 149-7.
Barishal also tasted a slump but recovered well to reach 152-4 with nine balls to spare with Mushfiqur Rahim hitting 47 not out.
Abu Hider Rony removed captain Tamim Iqbal (10) and Mehidy Hasan Miraz (8), who was sent to open the innings as part of a strategy, although it backfired.
Mushfiqur however held together the innings, bringing up all his experiences in the crucial game. He shared 47-run with Somuya Sarkar (22) for the third wicket to steady the innings before stitching a match-winning 50-run with Kyle Mayers for the fourth wicket.
Mayers blasted 15 -ball 28 which gave the killer punch indeed. When Mohammad Nabi removed Mayers, Barishal were just 31-run away.
Mushfiqur who hit six fours and one six in his 38-ball knock along with David Miller sailed the side home with the latter clattering Shakib Al Hasan a towering six, for a befitting finish.
Shakib however went wicket-less in bowling after giving away 17 runs in 1.3 overs and also failed to make impact in batting too as he scored just 1.
Mohammad Saifuddin who claimed 2-27, dealt a double strike in second over, dismissing Mahedi Hasan and Shakib to leave Rangpur 10-2.
Mayers then took out Rony Talukdar before James Fuller who snapped up 3-25 sliced the middle order as Rangpur lost seven wickets for 77 runs in 14.5 overs.
With the side in danger to be wrapped up below 100, Shamim Patwari, accompanied by Abu Hider Rony helped the side blast 72 runs off just 31 balls to give the bowlers something to defend.
Shamim smote five fours and as many sixes for his 24-ball 59 not out but at the end it mattered little.
