BARISAL BULLS BULLDOZE ITS WAY INTO BPL FINAL

A brilliant half-century from Sabbir Rahman (79) helped Barisal Bulls register a thrilling win over Rangpur Riders in Qualifier 2 to advance to the final of Bangladesh Premier League.

Helped by Rahman’s 79, Bulls chased down the stiff target of 161 with three balls to spare losing five wickets in the process.

Rangpur Riders, who won the toss and chose to bat, put up 160/9 in 20 overs. Riders were helped to the competitive score by LMP Simmons who scored 73 off 57 balls with 9 fours and 2 sixes.

The Riders were off to a good start, scoring 52 runs for the first wicket in 8.3 overs. However, they could not capitalise on the good start as they lost wickets at regular intervals with Bulls’ bowler KK Cooper doing the damage with a haul of 4/39. Simmons carried on, scoring a vital 73 runs, helping Riders to a competitive score of 160/9 in 20 overs.

In reply, Bulls made a poor start to the chase, losing both the openers Rony Talukdar and S Prasanna for 10 in 2.3 overs. Rahman then combined with Shahriar Nafees (44) to put up a 124-run partnership for the third wicket in 13.5 overs. However, the dismissal of both the set batsmen in space of 8 balls put the Bulls in a spot of bother.

But West Indian cricketers RR Emrit and KK Cooper saw Bulls home with some lusty hits in the death overs.

Barisal Bulls will take on Comilla Victorians in the final on December 15.

Brief scores: Rangpur Riders 160/9 (LMP Simmons 73, KK Cooper 4/39) lost to Barisal Bulls 163/5 (Sabbir Rahman 79) by five wickets.

-Source: CricWizz