Mashrafe Mortaza has reached his fifth Bangladesh Premier League final as he led Sylhet Strikers to a brilliant 19-run win against Rangpur Riders in the second qualifier of the ongoing season on Tuesday.
Sylhet will now face Comilla Victorians in the final on Thursday.
Rangpur were seemingly closing in on a comfortable victory as they required 46 off the final five overs, with both Rony Talukder (66) and skipper Nurul Hasan (33) set at the crease.
However, Mashrafe gave away just four runs in the 16th over and Luke Wood then leaked only nine, meaning Rangpur needed 37 from the last three, which seemed achievable with Dasun Shanaka and Dwayne Bravo yet in their ranks.
But then came Tanzim Hasan Sakib, who was brilliant altogether, ending with figures of two wickets for 19 runs in four overs, as the youngster gave away just two runs in the 18th over and dismissed Nurul in the first ball. After that, it was redemption for Zakir Hasan, who dropped an easy catch of Rony Talukder when he was on 29, as the wicketkeeper, who just took over the gloves from Akbar Ali before that over, ran Rony, who was out of his crease searching for a single, out.
Wood also produced a masterclass in the next over as he gave away just three runs and got rid of Shak Mahedi Hasan and Bravo. The wicket of Mahedi, though, belongs to Zakir, who continued on his redemption arc by taking a brilliant diving catch. Bravo was gone trying to hit a six next ball.
With 28 to defend, Rubel Hossain gave away two fours in the first two balls to Shanaka but then bowled three immaculate deliveries to produce three dot balls on the trot before rattling the Lankan’s stumps to finish off the game.
This was Sylhet’s first win against Rangpur in this edition as they had lost both times in the league stage.
Batting first, Najmul Hossain Shanto (40) and Towhid Hridoy brought Sylhet a good start as they put together 65 runs before the former was trapped LBW by Mahedi.
Sylhet skipper Mashrafe Mortaza then promoted himself to number three but Towhid (25) failed to capitalise on his start, falling to Hasan Mahmud.
Mashrafe played a good knock, scoring 28 off 16 balls hitting three fours and a six, before falling to Dwayne Bravo.
Good knocks from Thisara Perera (21) and George Linde (21*) ensured that Sylhet had a fighting total of 182-7.
In reply, Rangpur lost their latest signing Sam Billings (1) in the second over as Sakib trapped him LBW and the English batter could not survive even with a review.
Shamim Hossain, Rangpur’s hero from the last match, failed to capitalise on getting to bat at number three again as he fell for 14 to Rubel Hossain.
Nicholas Pooran came in and hit four sixes and a four to score 30 off 14 and looked to take the game away from Sylhet but a brilliant catch from Linde saw him back.
At one end, Rony Talukder stayed strong, courtesy of a dolly dropped by Zakir Hasan on 29 and reached his fifty off 40 balls.
He continued with skipper Nurul Hasan Sohan and their partnership took Rangpur to 46 off 30 balls, eyeing a comfortable victory.
But from there, some brilliant death bowling from Sylhet and some mediocre batting from Rangpur took it to 28 off the last over, which Rubel defended by giving away just eight runs in the final over.
