Cooper leads Barisal to win despite horror start

Barisal Bulls 155 for 9 (Mahmudullah 51, Shakib 3-23) beat Rangpur Riders 142 (Mithun 55, Cooper 5-15) by 13 runs
Scorecard and ball-by-ball deatails

Allrounder Kevon Cooper bowled four impressive overs to help Barisal Bulls to a 13-run win against Rangpur Riders despite a disastrous start. Needing 15 to defend of the last over, Cooper held his nerve and took three wickets wickets and allowed only a leg bye to finish with figures of 5 for 15. Cooper's career-best T20 bowling effort came after he had made a handy 21 with the bat.

Darren Sammy and Al-Amin got together with 20 needed off the last eight balls. Al-Amin swung and edged his first ball, off Mohammad Sami, for a four to break the equation down to 15 off six balls.

Sammy, however, was out off first ball of the last over when he holed out to long-off. A ball later, Al-Amin was run out, while Muktar Ali was caught by Taijul Islam at cover, before Abu Jayed was out off the last ball, Barisal captain Mahmudullah taking a brilliant catch running back from midwicket to put the seal on the win.

Barisal, though, had slipped to 15 for 4 in four overs, after the start of the match was delayed by a NOC controversy that had erupted in the first match of the day featuring Sylhet Superstars and Chittagong Vikings.

The BPL officials explained the cause for the delay, after which three Barisal batsmen - Shahriar Nafees, Rony Talukdar and Brendan Taylor - were dismissed for one each. Sabbir Rahman too did not last long but Mahmudullah lifted his side, making 51 off 43 balls, including five fours and a six. He added 82 for the fifth wicket with Nadif Chowdhury, who pitched in with 30 off 31 balls.

Seekugge Prasanna, Cooper, and Sami struck one six each, which eventually pushed Barisal to 155. Shakib Al Hasan and Thisara Perera took three wickets each while Saqlain Sajib took one wicket.

Rangpur's chase then started positively with Soumya Sarkar peeling off four fours but he failed to carry on and was out caught behind, trying to force Sami on the up. Shakib was next to go, giving an easy catch to Prasanna at midwicket in the sixth over. Lendl Simmons' slow innings ended when he holed out to Sami at long-on for 19. The biggest blow, however, came when Cooper undid Misbah-ul-Haq, the hero of Rangpur's opening win, in the 12th over.

Mithun, who reached hid fifty off 27 balls, and Perera tried to make a game of it, adding 68 for the fifth wicket. However, Perera was run out at the start of the penultimate over for 17 off 18 balls. Two balls later, Mithun picked out long-on and Cooper closed out the game.