BPL 2016, Match 6 Review: Defending champions humbled by Barisal Bulls this time

Comilla Victorians and Barisal Bulls locked horns as both sides were desperate to get a win under their belt. Defending champions Comilla Victorians faced a crushing defeat against Chittagong Vikings in the tournament opener. The Bulls, on the other hand, had a crushing defeat too against the Dhaka Dynamites. With no points to their name, the match promised to get one of the two sides something to show in their points column.

Victorians skipper Mashrafe Mortaza won the toss and opted to bat first on the occasion. They left out Ashar Zaidi out of the lineup and went in with Pakistani batsman Khalid Latif as their fourth overseas player. The other three imports were all-rounder Imad Wasim, pacer Sohail Tanvir and West Indies batsman Marlon Samuels.

The Barisal Bulls stuck to the same overseas combination for this game. Dilshan Munaweera, Dawid Malan, Rayad Emrit and Thisara Perera were drafted in the line up. Taijul Islam took the new ball to begin along with Al-Amin Hossain. Openers Imrul Kayes and Khalid Latif started the proceedings for the Victorians. Taijul struck early in the innings as he sent Kayes packing for a duck on the second ball of the match.

Nazmul Hossain Shanto was the new man in. Playing with cautiion, the two batsmen tried to see the new ball through.
Latif hit two boundaries before being dismissed on 12 by Abu Hider in the 4th over of the match. The West Indies veteran Marlon Samuels made the walk to the center. The Victorians moved to 40/2 by the end of the powerplay. Samuels lost the support of Shanto soon after. It was in the 8th over when Shamsur Rahman ran him out on 16. Liton Das perished soon as he was caught and bowled by Al Amin on 4.

It turned out to be yet another disappointing outing for Imad Wasim. He went cheaply for 1 and Nahidul Islam (4) followed the cavalcade to have the Comilla Victorians struggling at 73/6 in 14 overs. In the meantime, Samuels watched the procession of wickets fall from the other end. He was joined by Sohail Tanvir at the other end. Samuels looked steady for a fifty but missed out on the well deserved one. He was dismissed on a run-a-ball 48 with 5 fours by Rayad Emrit in the penultimate over.

Skipper Mortaza could not accelerate either and departed in the last over on 2. Some late hitting by Sohail Tanvir (30* off 19 balls with 3 sixes) propelled the Victorians to 129/8 in their 20 overs. Abu Hider was the pick of the bowlers with 2/34 in his 4 overs.

Dilshan Munaweera was joined by Shamsur Rahman to start the run chase for Barisal Bulls. Imad Wasim started the proceeding with the ball. He bowled 3 overs in his spell and was eventually successful in getting the breakthrough. He got the scalp of Munaweera on 15 in the 5th over. Sohail Tanvir bowled tight lines from the other end to keep the run flow under control. Tanvir leaked just 6 runs in his first couple of overs as Bulls scored just 30 in the powerplay.

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Skipper Mashrafe Mortaza quickly finished up his tidy spell of 4 overs giving 21 runs but went wicketless. Dawid Malan and Shamsur Rahman batted cautiously to keep the scorecard ticking. Rahman’s sturggling 26-ball 16 was ended by Nabil Samad in the 11th over. HIs dismissal brought Bulls’ skipper Mushfiqur Rahim to the crease.

Rahim looked in a good touch and continued from where he had left in his last game. He was the top scorer for Bulls in their previous match. He lost the support of Malan in the 13th over when Mortaza pocketed a clean catch off the bowling of Mohammad Sharif to send Malan back on 26 (23). Hard hitting batsman Thisara Perera arrrived at the crease with 61 needed off 44 balls.

Both Rahim and Perera took the attack to the opposition. Rahim, in particular, looked very aggressive during his 23-ball 32 with 2 sixes and 2 fours. His outburst put Barisal Bulls an inch closer to the win. He was only unlucky not to have finished the match for his team. Tanvir dismissed him in the 18th over to bring Shahriar Nafees at the crease. Perera clobbered a maximum and a four too to get the equation down to 12 needed off 15 balls.

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Perera hit a couple more fours to seize the game for the Bulls. He remained unbeaten on 34 off 20 balls with 3 fours and a six as Bulls chased down the total with 6 wickets in hand and 9 balls to spare. With the win, the Bulls have now registered their first win in the league. The defending champions Comilla Victorian are  yet to find their feet in the tournament.

Brief Scores:

Comilla Victorians 129/8 in 20 overs (Samuels 48, Tanvir 30*, Hider 2/34, Emrit 1/20)

Barisal Bulls 130/4 in 18.3 overs (Perera 34*, Rahim 33, Samad 1/12, Tanvir 1/17)