Prolific Jamshed downs Barisal

Chittagong Kings maintained their position as one of the leading teams on the Bangladesh Premier League points table, with a clinical eight-wicket win against Barisal Burners in Mirpur.

Chittagong captain Mahmudullah chose to field and his bowlers did not let him down. Apart from Dwayne Bravo, the six other bowlers employed during the innings kept things very tight: none of them conceded more than a run a ball. Barisal were not helped by the fact that their explosive opener, Chris Gayle, had to retire hurt with a groin injury after smacking 30 off 16, including three sixes. Subsequently, none of batsmen could build innings of consequence and Brad Hodge with 38 off 40 was the top scorer.

Chasing a paltry 126, the Chittagong batsmen were in stark contrast to the opposition. The openers, Nasir Jamshed and Jahurul Islam, smacked 97 in partnership at almost 11 an over. While Islam fell short of a half-century, Jamshed went on to score an unbeaten 81 off 47, to help Chittagong to romp home with eight wickets and 44 balls to spare.

Pakistan batsman Jamshed, who was named Man of the Match, is the second-highest run-scorer in the tournament so far - this was his third half century in five games. He has 261 runs at an average of 87.00, and is 27 runs behind the tournament's leading run-getter, Gayle.

It was more bad news for Barisal after the match, with their overseas signing, Ahmed Shehzad from Pakistan, being fined for misconduct. Shehzad was reported by the umpires for 'damaging the pitch and misbehaving with the curator before the start of the match', a BPL media release stated. He was fined 30,000 Taka by match referee Roquibul Hassan for the offence. "This kind of action by an experienced player is totally unacceptable and tantamount to seriously damaging the image and spirit of the game," Roquibul said.