|| CF DESK ||

Fortune Barishal secured the play-off spot by beating Comilla Victorians by six wickets in match 41 of the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) at Sher e Bangla National Cricket Stadium.

Tamim Iqbal's aggressive innings of 66 off 48 deliveries, featuring six boundaries and three sixes guided Barishal to successfully chase down the modest target of 141 runs.

Although Barishal faced an early setback with the loss of their opener Ahmed Shehzad, Tamim and Kyle Mayers effectively countered this by building a solid 64-run partnership.

Mayers made a valuable contribution of 25 runs before Musfik Hasan managed to gave the breakthrough, the pacer also claimed the wicket of Mushfiqur Rahim for 17 runs. However, these dismissals were not enough to prevent Barishal from securing the victory.

Earlier, Jaker Ali’s late blitz helped Comilla Victorians post 140-8 runs in 20 overs after being sent to bat first.

The wicket-keeper batter played a pivotal role, top-scoring with a rapid 16-ball 38, which featured two fours and four sixes, he remained unbeaten at the crease while the other batters struggled to maintain momentum.

In an attempt to try something new on Mirpur’s notorious pitch, Comilla shifted Sunil Narine to open the batting with skipper Litton Das. However, the strategy didn't yield the desired results, with Narine falling early in the third over after scoring 16 runs.

Litton also couldn't capitalize, departing for 12 runs shortly after the first powerplay, falling victim to Taijul Islam's bowling.

Taijul proved to be the standout performer with the ball, claiming two more crucial wickets including that of Andre Russell (14).

Comilla lost their wickets at regular intervals and lost seven wickets before reaching a hundred. Towhid Hridoy and Moeen Ali played brief innings of 25 and 23 runs respectively in the middle.

Taijul led the bowling attack with the most wickets, while Mohammad Saifuddin and Obed McCoy also made significant contributions, each picking up a pair of wickets for Barishal.