Home ›› 17 Feb 2022 ›› Sport
A record-breaking half-century from Sunil Narine took Comilla Victorians into the final of the Bangabandhu Bangladesh Premier League as they defeated Chattogram Challengers by seven wickets in the second qualifier match at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium on Wednesday.
Narine smacked the quickest fifty of the BPL as it took him only 13 balls to reach his half-century, where he hit four fours and six sixes.
He broke the record of Ahmed Shehzad, who scored 50 runs in 16 balls against Duronto Rajshahi for Barishal Burners in 2012.
Narine’s tornado innings ended when he tried to hit another six but skied it, and Mrittunjoy made no mistake to catch the ball. Narine scored 57 runs from just 16 balls, giving Comilla a great boost in chasing a mediocre total of 149 runs after they lost Liton Das in the very first ball.
Liton edged the very first ball of Comilla’s innings by Shoriful Islam, and Akbar Ali did a fine job behind the wickets by taking a diving catch. A wicket in the first ball could have shifted the momentum towards Chattogram, but Narine counterpunched powerfully to bring his team out of the danger zone.
After Narine departed, Imrul Kayes was out for 22 runs from 24 balls, which brought Moeen Ali on the crease to pair up with Faf Du Plessis.
The two experienced cricketers guided the Victorians without taking further risks and safely harboured to victory with 43 balls in hand.
Earlier, Chattogram Challengers won the toss and opted to bat first. Chattogram brought back their star performer Will Jacks, who had missed the Eliminator match against Khulna Tigers on Monday due to sudden illness. The English batsman replaced Kenner Lewis in the XI.
But the unexpected stoppage broke his rhythm as Jacks was out for only 16 by giving a catch to Imrul Kayes, and Chadwick Walton fell for only two runs.
Chattogram were heavily dependent on the performance of their overseas batsmen, who could not fire in the match where the team needed them badly.
The franchise opted for local youngsters instead of seasoned campaigners, but they were also disappointed. Skipper Afif Hossain was out for only 10 runs, and Shamim Hossain was stumped for a duck. Both were removed by Moeen Ali.
Chattogram were struggling at 50-5 after eight overs, but Akbar Ali and Mehidy Hasan Miraz added 61 runs from 40 balls for the sixth wicket to salvage the team.
But their resistance was broken by Abu Hider when Akbar went for the aerial route as he ended up being caught and bowled by the left-arm pacer for 33 runs.
Akbar’s departure brought in Benny Howell, one of the most impactful players of their team so far, but he also faced a tragic end as he was run out for only three runs.
Misunderstanding between Howell and Miraz cost the English all-rounder his wicket as he failed to reach the crease before Mustafizur Rahman hit the timbers from short third-man.
Miraz tried his best to carry on, but he was out for 44 runs, six runs short of his first half-century in this BPL.
Mrittunjoy played a cameo of 15 runs as he hit back-to-back sixes against Shohidul Islam before getting caught on the edge of the rope by Abu Hider.
Chattogram were all out for 148 runs in 19.1 overs as Shohidul and Moeen took three wickets each.
Comilla chased down the target comfortably and booked another appointment with Fortune Barishal in the final on Friday.
The final will start at 5:30 PM at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium.
