Marlon Samuels' 55* carries Comilla home

Comilla Victorians dented Rajshahi Kings' charge towards a last-four finish, beating them by eight wickets with eight balls to spare. Young allrounder Mohammad Saifuddin took three wickets to help restrict Rajshahi to 124 for 7 before Marlon Samuels struck an unbeaten 55 off 41 to complete a convincing chase.

The win took Comilla to six points on the table, still well behind Rajshahi, on 10. With two rounds of matches to go, Rajshahi will be engaged in a closely-contested battle with Rangpur Riders, also on 10 points, and Khulna Titans, on 12 points, as the race for semi-final berths tightens.

Comilla opener Imrul Kayes holed out to deep square leg in the fourth over of the chase, giving Rajshahi a sniff. But Ahmed Shehzad and Marlon Samuels held sway thereafter, adding 90 off 69 for the second wicket. Shehzad struck four fours and a six in his 45-ball 46, while Samuels hit two fours and four sixes in what was his second fifty of the competition.

Shehzad was dismissed with 19 runs left for victory, but Samuels and Khalid Latif steered the chase home with no further losses.

Earlier, Saifuddin removed the dangerous Samit Patel in the ninth over before dismissing Mehedi Hasan and Rajshahi captain Darren Sammy in the 12th over, reducing them to 59 for 6. Comilla captain Mashrafe Mortaza picked up two wickets while Nabil Samad and Rashid Khan took one each.

Only James Franklin, making his first BPL appearance, stood out among the Rajshahi batsmen, making an unbeaten 44 off 31 that included two fours and three sixes. He struck two of those sixes in the last over, bowled by Shahadat Hossain, that cost Comilla 24 runs. In the end, even that late charge proved too little for Rajshahi.