Comilla enter playoffs after nervy chase of 98
Comilla took 19.3 overs to chase down 98, with quick wickets in the middle overs leaving their pursuit shaky
Mujeed Zadran, the 16-year-old Afghanistan offspinner who is the youngest player in BPL, had Ziaur Rahman plumb in front of the stumps off the first ball of the match, but umpire Ranmore Martinesz turned down the appeal despite the ball hitting the batsman's boot with the off stump visible. The decision didn't cost Comilla too much as Mahedi, the slightly more experienced offspinner in their revamped spin attack, removed both Chris Gayle and Ziaur in the next over.
Once three wickets had fallen by the seventh over, Ravi Bopara and McCullum tried to lead Rangpur's recovery, but Bopara didn't have much of an impact. As he tried to complete a single, he stopped sliding his bat just short of the crease. Imrul Kayes scored with the direct hit as Bopara's feet, too, were in the air as the ball hit the stumps.
Rangpur also struggled against the pace of Mohammad Saifuddin, who produced bouncers and yorkers. He finished with three wickets, getting Mohammad Mithun caught at cover and bowling pinpoint yorkers to bowl Mashrafe Mortaza and Sohag Gazi. Hasan Ali also bowled good yorkers but finished with one wicket, getting Chamara Kapugedera caught behind.
Tamim Iqbal started the Comilla chase with a six over cover in the first over, and in the next over, he survived a stumping chance off Mashrafe Mortaza, who then went on to dismiss Liton Das in the fourth over.
Imrul Kayes and Shoaib Malik helped Comilla regain some footing, but Rangpur came back to dismiss the pair in the space of eight deliveries. Imrul played a pull off Mashrafe straight to Gayle at short midwicket before Nazmul got the ball to sneak between Malik's legs as he tried to pad it away on the charge.
While the asking rate did not threaten Comilla, the slow pitch did not allow their batsmen to go after the bowling. This meant that they went into the last five overs needing 25 and that equation tightened to 10 off 12 balls. Bowling the penultimate over, Mashrafe had Saifuddin caught in the deep-midwicket boundary, before Hasan Ali's big six brought the target down to two from the last over.
Mohammad Isam is ESPNcricinfo's Bangladesh correspondent. @isam84