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That will be it from us in terms of coverage of the first match. There's another game to come in over an hour's time - The Dhaka Dominators will take on the Sylhet Strikers at Mirpur. Keep an eye on our tabs for our coverage of other cricket matches, there's plenty taking place today! For now, this is Rajarshi, signing off on behalf of myself and Mohul. See you later!
Shakib Al Hasan, Fortune Barishal captain: We put on a better show today with the ball and on the field. We came back strongly in the second half of the first innings. We batted well, and didn't take unnecessary challenges. It always feels good, to get a wicket off the first ball is what you want, can't get better than that. We could have bowled better, having said that, it was a good wicket to bat on. It'll be tough for the bowlers in this Bangladesh Premier League. He's been batting very well for Afghanistan. Because of the combination, we couldn't play him in the first game, but glad that he did so well today.
Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Player of the Match: We did well with the ball in hand, I just tried to bowl in good areas. I love to bat at the top all the time, I love batting and the captain gave me the opportunity. I tried to get the boundaries in the powerplay, and then looked to rotate strike as often as I could.
Mehidy Hasan Miraz is the Player Of The Match
Nurul Hasan, Rangpur Riders captain: Shoaib bhai batted really well, but we were 15-20 runs short. The wicket wasn't easy to bat on early on, but it eased out as the game progressed. We did pick up a couple of wickets early on, but our failure to break through in the middle overs cost us.
Match summary: Fortune Barishal won the toss and opted to bowl
Rangpur Riders 1st innings 158/7 (20 Overs) Shoaib Malik 54*(36) | Mehidy Hasan Miraz 2/21 (4)
Fortune Barishal win by 6 wickets with 4 balls to spare
The Fortune Barishal camp, who had a few indignant members at the start of the run chase, is all smiles as they head to the centre to shake hands with the oppostion. Much like the first innings, the run-chase wasn't short of events at the start. There was some confusion over who was going to take strike among Chaturanga de Silva and Anamul Haque, which ended in Shakib rushing in from the dugout and having a heated exchange with the umpires (again), and after the dust settled, it was the left handed Chaturanga who headed to the striker's end. The early exchanges affected his concentration evidently, and he departed four balls later.
Anamul Haque Bijoy was just starting to gain control over the run-chase, when a fresh controversy erupted. Sikandar Raza fired one onto Bijoy's pads, the right-hander failed to get bat on it, there was an appeal but the umpire shook his head. The decision was referred upstairs, the replays suggested that the ball would have slid down leg, but much to the surprise of everyone at the ground, none more than Bijoy, the umpire reversed his decision and gave the marching orders to him. A distraught Bijoy remonstrated with the umpires, and walked back in disgust.
Mehidy Hasan Miraz and Ibrahim Zadran then proceeded to steady the ship. Miraz was looking to make the most of the remainder of the powerplay, he did so with immense success, taking 23 off the 12 deliveries he faced. The duo then proceeded to find the gaps on the outfield and kept the equation under check, while maximizing on the bad balls. After Rangpur managed to break the stand, Ibrahim Zadran, who had been playing second fiddle for a while, took up the mantle and reached a fine half-century. But he fell soon after, and Rangpur had a sniff in the contest.
While Iftikhar Ahmed wasn't able to make good connection right from the start of his innings, Karim Janat swung his blade to good effect and brought it down to almost a run a ball. The duo left 4 runs to get off the final over, and Iftikhar finally connected with one fruitfully, sending the ball into the stands and bringing up the winning runs.
Iftikhar middles it when it mattered the most! Barishal took it very deep, but they get the points!
20.0
19.2 Mahedi Hasan to Iftikhar Ahmad, SIX! FORTUNE BARISHAL WIN! Tossed up outside off, Ahmad goes down on one knee and slogs it back past the head of the bowler for a MAXIMUM to wrap things up here in Dhaka! What a win for Barishal, given that they have not had to utilise Shakib Al Hasan and Mahmudullah with the bat!
19.2 Mahedi Hasan to Iftikhar Ahmad, WIDE outside off, keeper Nurul Hasan collects it awkwardly!
19.1 Mahedi Hasan to Iftikhar Ahmad, almost yorker on off and middle, Ahmad pats it back to the bowler.
Mahedi Hasan (3-0-16-0) is back into the attack
Iftikhar swung hard but couldn't find the desired result. Barishal are almost there, 4 needed off the final over. Unless there's something truly dramatic, something on the lines of a hat-trick, Rangpur can't turn this around.
19
overs
155/4score
2
4
0
1
2
1
runs
Iftikhar Ahmed*
19(16)
Karim Janat
21(14)
Robiul Haque
1/25
18.6 Robiul Haque to Iftikhar Ahmad, at a length on middle, Ahmad pulls at it, gets the inside half of his bat for a run to deep midwicket.
18.5 Robiul Haque to Iftikhar Ahmad, fullish outside off, Ahmad lofts it to wide of deep cover and long off from the crease for a couple!
18.4 Robiul Haque to Karim Janat, fullish outside off, Janat slams it towards long off for a run.
18.3 Robiul Haque to Karim Janat, full and wide outside off, Janat works it towards short third for a dot.
18.2 Robiul Haque to Karim Janat, FOUR! Full and wide outside off, Janat slices this square drive and manages to send it over point for a boundary! Janat is taking Barishal closer to victory, and this will help them tremendously.
18.1 Robiul Haque to Karim Janat, full on middle and leg, Janat works it towards deep square for a couple of runs.
Video
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S Al Hasan
S Raza
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Iftikhar Ahmed
*
Robiul Haque
Shere Bangla National Stadium, Mirpur, Dhaka
