Narine and Russell's all-round show takes Comilla Victorians into final

Defending champions Comilla Victorians made it to their fourth BPL final after trouncing Sylhet Strikers by four wickets in Qualifier 1 in Mirpur. Strikers will now face Rangpur Riders, who beat Fortune Barishal in the afternoon's Eliminator, in Qualifier 2 on Tuesday.

Sylhet would rue missing three chances during Comilla's chase. Mushfiqur Rahim was involved in all three - dropping two skiers and missing a stumping. It could have made a difference.

It was Comilla's varied and experienced bowling attack that set up the victory. Andre Russell, Mustafizur Rahman and Tanvir Islam took two wickets apiece, and Sunil Narine, Moeen Ali and Mukidul Islam picked up one each. They combined great lengths with a wicket-taking approach that left Sylhet with no respite.

Shafiqullah Ghafari, the 21-year-old uncapped Afghan, fell to Russell in the second over, before Tanvir ran out the in-form Towhid Hridoy with a direct hit. When Moeen's extra bounce took out Zakir Hasan in the following over, Comilla had Sylhet on the ropes at 16 for 3.

Their recovery came through the surprise appearance of the veteran Mashrafe Mortaza who promoted himself to No 5. He cracked two sixes and as many fours in his 17-ball 26, and lent a helping hand to Najmul Hossain Shanto who was batting calmly at the other end.

But the pair fell within eight balls of each other when Mashrafe skied Russell and Shanto was bowled by Tanvir. Tanvir dented them further by removing Ryan Burl on the next ball to make it 78 for 6 in the 11th over. Mushfiqur tried to resuscitate the innings but to no avail, as Strikers were bowled out for a paltry 125 in the 18th over.

Narine gave Comilla a rollicking start, hitting four sixes and three fours in his 18-ball 39. He fell in the fifth over, but it had a lasting impact despite Comilla floundering in their chase. Litton Das had earlier fallen in the fourth over, while Johnson Charles and Imrul Kayes couldn't get going.

Moeen Ali, though, struck a 13-ball 21, and Mosaddek Hossain played the anchor's role with an unbeaten run-a-ball 27.

There was another wobble when Moeen and Jakir Ali fell in the same over but by then the target was just 19 runs away. Russell, who was the beneficiary of one of Mushfiqur's dropped catches, smashed a couple of sixes to complete the win in the 17th over.