Comilla out, but not down

Reigning champions Comilla Victorians ended their Bangladesh Premier League campaign with an eight-run win over the Rangpur Riders at Mirpur yesterday and in the process helped the Rajshahi Kings book a place in the play-offs.

Comilla, on the other hand, will finish this season in sixth place.

The result of the match yesterday was not going to make any difference for Mashrafe Bin Mortaza's Victorians, but the Riders needed to win the game in order to confirm a slot in the play-offs.

However, a lacklustre performance from the team saw them lose that opportunity.

After being asked to bat first the Victorians, courtesy of a 35-ball 52 from Imrul Kayes and a 36-ball 43 from Khalid Latif, posted a strong 170 for six. In reply, the Riders were restricted to 162 for eight after.

It was Comilla's strong start that made all the difference. Imrul and Khalid put on 88 runs in the first 10.1 overs. Imrul hit seven fours and two sixes and seems to have returned to form right before the New Zealand series.

However, he was caught in the deep off Arafat Sunny in the eleventh over. Two overs later, Sunny dismissed Latif, who had hit two sixes and three fours as well.

Towards the end, Marlon Samuels and Ashar Zaidi added a few quick cameos and helped them reach the 170-run mark.

Sunny and Rubel Hossain, who scalped two wickets each, were the key wicket-takers for Comilla.

An aggressive start from Mohammad Shahzad helped Rangpur race to 49 for 1 after six overs, with Soumya Sarkar being dismissed in the sixth over. Soumya's fall however triggered a collapse and they lost their next three wickets for just nine runs.

Shahzad, who had scored a 31-ball 45 with two sixes and five fours was one of those scalps. He was bowled by a slower delivery from Mashrafe.

Naeem Islam and Shahid Afridi tried to mend the situation and put on a 42-run stand. Afridi looked in fine form, but once Naeem was bowled by Rashid Khan in the 13th over, they ran out of steam. Afridi was dismissed in the 15th over with a well-disguised googly from Rashid for a 19-ball 38 and the game effectively ended there.

Ziaur Rahman hammered a few sixes towards the end and reached a 22-ball 38, which only served to reduce the margin of defeat.

With figures of three for 13, Afghanistan's Rashid Khan was adjudged the player of the match yesterday.

Despite his team reaching the end of the road this season, Mashrafe was happy to have ended the tournament on a good run.

“We went through difficult times in the tournament. But the players were able to cope with that and come back with wins. And I think that will help the younger players a lot in the future. They will know how to cope with pressure,” reckoned Mashrafe after the match yesterday.

“It feels good to have won. It's difficult to live up to the expectation based on the last season but we are happy to get 10 points despite a bad start,” he added.