Bulls hurt Kings' playoff chances

Lowly Barisal Bulls blunted Rajshahi Kings' chances of making the Bangladesh Premier League playoffs by beating Darren Sammy's team by 16 runs at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur yesterday.

The win takes Barisal to eight points with one game against Rangpur Riders (10 points) left, while Rajshahi sit on 10 points from 11 games with one match against second-placed Chittagong Vikings to come. At this stage, theoretically Barisal and Comilla Victorians (six points from 10 games) still have a chance to make the playoffs, but that will require massive victories in their remaining matches as their mediocre seasons have left them with comfortably the worst net run-rates so far.

Fourth and fifth-placed Rajshahi and Rangpur have already garnered 10 points and winning any of their remaining matches will put Barisal and Comilla out of contention.

Back to yesterday's match, a swashbuckling half-century from Dawid Malan (33-ball 56) and contributions lower down the order from Fazle Rabbi (run-a-ball 43) and Thisara Perera (unbeaten 22-ball 29) lifted Barisal to 161 for four after they were asked to bat first.

But Barisal had started badly as opener Jeevan Mendis was dismissed by Mehedi Hasan Miraz in the second over with the score on seven. What followed was a partnership of exactly 100 for the second wicket between Malan and Rabbi in just 11.5 overs. The pair batted sensibly enough for most of their partnership with Malan taking much of the initiative to attack.

The left-hander threatened to turn his innings into a true spectacular as he exploded with two fours and three sixes in 12th and 13th overs bowled by James Franklin and Nazmul Islam respectively.

But in the 14th over he was run out, having given the Bulls a solid platform of 107 for two after 13.3 overs. That was also the score on which Rabbit departed, caught in the deep off Forhad Reza. The big-hitting Thisara Perera built on the advantage with skipper Mushfiqur Rahim, who had a rare failure as he was caught behind off Mohammad Sami for eight in the penultimate over, with the score on 143 for four.

Shahriar Nafees then came in and clobbered two sixes in the last over to lift the total past the 160 mark.

Rajshahi's chase never really got off the mark as they collapsed to 68 for four in 10.5 overs, with Nurul Hasan, Sabbir Rahman, Mominul Haque and Raqibul Hasan all falling cheaply while also eating up a lot of deliveries. A brief spark of hope came in the form of Samit Patel, who hit a 51-ball 62 with seven fours and a six, but his dismissal by Rayad Emrit with the score on 12n in the penultimate over effectively ended any outside chances of a Rajshahi rally. They made it to 144 for seven by the end of 20 overs.

Emrit, with figures of three for 27 off four overs, was the star bowler for Barisal.