Mohammad Ali鈥檚 record 5-24 and Towhid Hridoy鈥檚 56-ball 82 runs helped Fortune Barishal to secure their back-to-back BPL final as they crushed Chittagong Kings by nine wickets in the first qualifier at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium on Monday.
Shamim Hossain lifted Chittagong from a precarious position of 34-4 to 149-9 in 20 overs with his heroic innings of 79 off 47, which included nine fours and four sixes.
Barishal, in reply, felt little pressure as they cruised past the target in 17.2 overs to ensure their chance of defending the title.
Chittagong, though, will have another shot at the final when they face Khulna Tigers in the second qualifier on Wednesday.
After being put into bat first, Chittagong were in disarray as they lost four wickets for just 34 runs in 5.3 overs.
Kyle Mayers, who returned to the Barishal fold after his stint in the ILT20, struck twice in his first two overs to dismiss Khawaja Nafay and Graham Clark.
After Mohammad Mithun and Haider Ali fell to Ali鈥攚ho was playing his first BPL match鈥攁nd Ebadot Hossain, respectively, Shamim and Parvez Hossain began the rescue act.
The duo added 77 runs for the sixth wicket before Parvez was dismissed by Rishad Hossain after making a ball 36. The left-hander was trying to accelerate but couldn鈥檛 capitalise on the start he got.
This was the last recognised pair of Chittagong, as they had only six batters and no all-rounder.
Shamim, though, continued to smash boundaries as he added a further 32 runs with Khaled Ahmed. The left-hander was at one point smelling a hundred but became the second victim of Ali鈥檚 four wickets in the 19th over.
Aliss Al Islam became Ali鈥檚 fifth victim; the Pakistani pacer became the first bowler to take a five-wicket haul in BPL playoffs.
This was, in fact, a template chase for Barishal as Tamim Iqbal and Towhid Hridoy started the chase cautiously. They added 55 runs in 8.4 overs before Tamim fell for 29 off 26.
But Chittagong couldn鈥檛 pile on the pressure as Dawid Malan started his innings aggressively. Hridoy followed him soon.
Hridoy, reaching his first fifty of the season in 45 balls, accelerated as he made his next 32 runs from just 11 balls. The right-hander hit nine fours and two sixes.
Malan remained unbeaten on 34 off 22 in his unbeaten partnership of 95 runs in 52 balls.
