BPL 3 Match 21 Review: Barisal Bulls v Sylhet Super Stars, Sylhet skittle out the Bulls for 58 in an imposing win

A change in captaincy brought about a change in fortunes for the Sylhet Super Stars. Their Pakistan recruit Shahid Afridi walked out for the toss instead of regular skipper Mushfiqur Rahim and from this moment onwards everything went in the teams favour.

The Pakistani T20I captain had no hesitation in bowling first upon winning the toss and reckoned the decision was prompted due to the moisture in the pitch. He may have not imagined such domination though as his bowled bundled out the Barisal Bulls for just 58 runs thereby ensuring an easy win for the Super Stars.

The eagerly awaited return of Chris Gayle didn’t live up to the expectations as the big man got out after scoring just 8 runs after smashing one six. A tumbling catch by Nazmul Milon off the bowling of Mohammad Shahid ended the Jamaican’s knock. A wicket-maiden by Sohail Tanvir saw the wicket of Evin Lewis who scored 12.

Ravi Bopara continued his superb bowling form by picking up the wickets of Mehdi Maruf, Sabbir Rahman and Seekkuge Prasanna. Mohammad Sami top scored with 16 in a dismal looking scorecard. Mohammad Shahid, Rubel Hossain and skipper Afridi picked up 2 wickets each as the Bulls folded for a paltry 58 in 16 overs.

Sami removed Dilshan Munaweera for a duck in the 1st over off a short ball. This was the only moment of success for the Barisal outfit as the Super Stars cruised to a comfortable 9 wicket win. Junaid Siddique looked in superb nick as he slammed 6 wonderful boundaries in an unbeaten knock of 34 off 37 balls. Narul Hasan scored 23* off 26 balls including two four as both finished the match in the 12th over. Sami bowled a fine spell of 9/1 from 3 overs while Gayle also rolled his arm over for 2 overs.

Brief scores:

Barisal Bulls – 58/10 from 16 overs (M Sami 16; R Bopara 3/12)

Sylhet Super Stars – 62/1 from 11.2 overs (J Siddique 34*; M Sami 1/9)

Man of the Match: Al-Amin Hossain (Barisal Bulls)