Barisal brought down Rajshahi to earth

|| CF Correspondent ||

Opener Tamim Iqbal played a captain’s knock to guide Fortune Barishal to their first win in the Bangabandhu Twenty20 Cup as they defeated Minister Group Rajshahi by five wickets at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium on Saturday.

Tamim scored 77 off 61 balls to take Barishal to 136-5 in 19 overs after Kamrul Islam took 4-21 and Mehedi Hasan claimed 2-18 to restrict Rajshahi to 132-9. Earlier, sent to bat, Rajshahi reached 39-0 after the powerplay but their innings imploded in the next 33 balls, where they lost half their side and were left stuttering at 63-5 in 10.3 overs.

Mahedi Hasan (34 off 23 balls) and Fazle Mahmud (31 off 32 balls) then added 65 off 50 balls for the sixth wicket but Kamrul took three wickets while only conceding three runs in the final over to keep them to a meagre total.

Chasing a below par target, Barishal lost Mehedi (one off five balls) early but Tamim remained unfazed, formed a 61-run partnership with Parvez Hossain (23 off 17 balls) and a 46-run stand with Towhid Hridoy (17 off 24 balls) for the next two wickets to setup the chase.

Pacer Mukidul Islam threatened a late twist, when he dismissed Towhid and Afif Hossain (0) in the 17th over.

Irfan Sukkur then ran himself out in the penultimate over to add more tension, but Tamim, who hit 10 fours and two sixes in his innings, did not lose his focus and shepherded his team to victory.