Chittagong Kings will face Fortune Barishal in the first qualifier of the BPL as they beat the latter by 24 runs in their last group-stage match at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium on Thursday.
Chittagong posted 206-4 in 20 overs after a brilliant 75 off 41 off Parvez Hossain. Barishal, in reply, managed 182-7 in 20 overs and tasted the first defeat in six matches.
The first qualifier will be held on February 3, while Rangpur Riders鈥攚ho were toppled from second by Barishal鈥攚ill take on Khulna Tigers on the same day in the eliminator match.
After put into bat first, Chittagong got the perfect foundation as Parvez Hossain built two partnerships of 58 (41) and 70 (36) for the first two wickets with Khawaja Nafay and Graham Clark, respectively.
Haider Ali (42* off 23) then took the baton from Parvez to add 31 off 17 with Mohammad Mithun and then an unbeaten 40 off 19 with Shamim Hossain (30 off 12).
Ebadot Hossain and Mohammad Nabi conceded just 41 runs from their collective seven overs, but the other bowlers were expensive for Barishal.
Barishal then lost Tamim Iqbal and Towhid Hridoy within 13 runs on the board and managed only 30 in the powerplay.
Dawid Malan then instilled some hope into them as he made 67 off 34. Mahmudullah remained unbeaten on 41 off 26, but that couldn鈥檛 make any difference in terms of the result for them.