Fortune Barishal beat Chittagong Kings in the first qualifier match on Monday to reach the finals of Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) 2025 season. Barishal bowlers led by Mohammad Ali’s 5/24 ensured that the Kings could score mere 149 runs on the board. West Indian star Kyle Mayers gave Barishal huge breakthrough in the first over of the game with some amazing swing bowling.
Tamim Iqbal gave Mayers the first over of the game to Khawaja Nafar. King's opening batter began the game with a four before Mayers had his revenge. The West Indian star bowled the perfect in-swinger to Nagar, who saw the ball creep through his defence and hit the stumps. The batter was left shell-shocked, while skipper Tamim Iqbal was overjoyed.
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The day belonged to Pakistan pacer Mohammed Ali, who broke the back of Chittagong’s batting unit. The 32-year-old began by dismissing skipper Mithun Ali for just one run. In the 19th over, Ali got four wickets to claim his fifer. In the first ball of the over, Ali castled Khaled Ahmed for one run.
This was followed by the huge wicket of Shamim Hossain for 79 off 47 balls. Arafat Sunny and Aliss Al Islam then fell to the veteran pacer, who ended with 5/24 from four overs. Parvez Hossain Emon’s run-a-ball 36 made him only the second Chittagong batter after Shamim Hossain to reach double figures.
Fortune Barishal’ thumping win takes them to final; Rangpur Riders eliminated
Chasing 150 runs to win, skipper Tamim Iqbal was the only batter out for 29. His knock came off 26 balls as he fell to Khaled Ahmed, caught by Khawaja Nafay in the ninth over. Towhid Hridoy and Dawid Malan then carted Chittagong bowlers to all parts of the ground to help Barishal win the game by nine wickets and 16 balls to spare.
Rangpur Riders were easily defeated by Khulna Tigers in the eliminator game by nine wickets on Monday. Riders had won eight games in a row to start their season before losing the final four games. The Riders, who were title favourites, were bowled out for just 85 runs, with just two batters reaching double figures.
Number 10 batter Akif Javed was the top scorer with 32, while skipper Nurul Hasan’s 23 was the next best. Mehidy Hasan Miraz and Nasum Ahmed were the best bowlers for Khulna, with three wickets each. Chasing 86 to win, the Tigers won the game with 58 balls to spare as Mohammad Naim top scored with 48 not out while Alex Ross was 29 not out. The second qualifier match will witness Tigers take on Kings and the winners of that match will face Barishal in the finals on Friday in Dhaka.