Al-Amin hat-trick helps Barisal pip Sylhet in thriller

Barisal Bulls 108 (Nadif 24, Nazmul 3-18) beat Sylhet Superstars 107 for 9 (Munaweera 36, Al-Amin 5-36) by 1 run
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details

A second five-wicket haul in T20s for Al-Amin Hossain, which included his second hat-trick, helped Barisal Bulls nip out a low-scoring one-run thriller against Sylhet Superstars.

After taking four wickets in the first two overs, Al-Amin's fifth was Nazmul Hossain Milon, who was caught superbly by Taijul Islam at cover in the penultimate over. Crucially however, Fidel Edwards speared a four through the cover off his last ball, ensuring eight were needed in the last over.

Taijul took the wicket of Mohammad Shahid in the first ball to make it his third and then Fidel Edwards took two and one off the next two balls, giving Subashis Roy the strike for the fourth ball. He missed that one and then ticked off a single to cover. But with four needed, Edwards and Subashis took two runs to end a thrilling encounter.

Al-Amin was the hero. He already has a T20 record to his name after becoming the first bowler to take five wickets in a single over in the Victory Day T20 tournament in 2013. Back then, he took four off four balls to become only the second bowler to do so after Andre Russell.

On Tuesday evening, his hat-trick was the second in BPL after Mohammad Sami, incidentally bowling from the other end in this game, did it in the first edition in 2012 while playing for Duronto Rajshahi, against Dhaka Gladiators in 2012.

Al-Amin's day started differently as he got into a tiff by barging into Mohammad Shahid after being dismissed in the final over of the innings. It needed Mushfiqur Rahim and the umpires had to separate the two as the teams walked off.

From the beginning of Barisal's 108-run defense, Al-Amin looked focused. He had one jump on Mominul Haque in his first over, taking the edge to make the first breakthrough. In his next over, he had Bopara doing the same, edging an attempted square-drive to make it 18 for 2. Off the next ball, he got one to sharply nip back at Nurul Hasan who had no answer and saw the ball thud into his stumps. Mushfiqur came out to prevent the hat-trick that he couldn't as the ball sneaked through his prod to take the top of middle.

Owais Shah and Dilshan Munaweera, who was at the other end during the hat-trick, tried to take stock with a 43-run fifth wicket stand but both fell in the 12th over to Taijul Islam. Munaweera made 36 off 31 balls with six fours.

Sami bowled at good pace, picking up the late wicket of Nazmul Islam, giving away just nine runs in four overs to build pressure. Barisal's batting however continued to struggle as they never caught on to any rhythm. Rony Talukdar and Shahriar Nafees bettered their start from the previous game but both fell in consecutive deliveries with the score on 34. Paceman Subashis Roy had Rony caught behind for 20 while Nafees top-edged to point where Bopara took a fine catch running backwards for 12.

Brendan Taylor was caught and bowled by left-arm spinner Nazmul Islam before Mahmudullah was run out in the next over. When Sabbir, Seekkuge Prasanna and Kevon Cooper fell in quick succession, the innings looked set to fold under a 100. But Nadif Chowdhury contributed a vital cameo helped take the total past 100, which proved just about enough in the end.