Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Mehedi Hasan Rana put Fortune Barishal in final

Mujeeb Ur Rahman and Mehedi Hasan Rana bowled effectively in the slog overs to take Fortune Barishal to the BPL final. They beat Comilla Victorians by ten runs, leaving them to face Chattogram Challengers in the second Qualifier on Wednesday.

Comilla required 22 off the last two overs and Rana, the left-arm quick, made it a more difficult task for them by conceding just four runs off the penultimate over while picking up the wicket of Faf du Plessis.

Mujeeb then bowled superbly, removing Mahidul Islam Ankon and Sunil Narine in the final over in which he gave up just seven runs. In contrast to the high-scoring Eliminator earlier in the day, the first Qualifier was more of an attritional battle. Both batting line-ups suffered collapses, but Barishal's bowlers eventually saved the day for their team.

Big hit(s)
When Moeen Ali struck three sixes in his first 14 balls during Comilla's pursuit of 144, they would have expected a smooth chase. However, after being hit for a huge six off the previous ball, Dwayne Bravo came back and removed Moeen for 22 off 15 balls.

Shafiqul Islam had earlier taken two wickets, triggering a top-order collapse while Rana took 2 for 15 in his three overs. He fronted up to bowl the 11th, 17th, and 19th overs for Barishal. Mujeeb helped seal victory with his 2 for 33. Earlier, Barishal had got a rollicking start from Munim Shahriar, who struck four sixes - all through the arc midwicket and long-on - and two fours through the covers. He set the tone for Barishal by taking 16 runs from the first over of the match, bowled by Nahidul Islam. His slap-pull, against Mustafizur Rahman, though was Shahriar's best shot of the day.

Chris Gayle was more sedate at the other end, but Barishal still raced to 57 for 0 in the powerplay.

Big miss
Barishal missed a big performance from Shakib, who had won the player-of-the-match award in each of Barishal's last five games before Monday. After managing just 1 with the bat, Shakib went wicketless for the first time in this BPL season. Shakib's dismissal sparked a batting collapse as Barishal went from a promising 84 for 1 to 143 for 8. Despite Shakib having a rare off-day, Barishal made a great comeback with the ball.