DHAKA: Comilla Victorians have made it into the final of Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) 2015 by beating Rangpur Riders by 72-run in the Qualifier 1 of at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Mirpur of Dhaka on Saturday.
Breathtaking all-round performance by Ashar Zaidi, magnanimous batting by Imrul Kayes and destructive bowling of Abu Hider lifted them to final.
Winning the toss, Riders captain Shakib Al Hasan invited Victorians to bat first.
Comilla Victorians scored 163-run losing seven wickets in their allocated over. Openers Imrul Kayes and Liton Das gave a brilliant start. They scored 79-run in 11-over before the Liton Das returned to pavilion. He scored 28-run off 37-ball.
Imrul Kayes hit 67-run off 48-ball while Ashar Zaidi took 40-run off 15-ball, helping Victorians to reach 163-run in 20-over.
NLTC Perera picked up five wickets while Mohammad Nabi and Saqlain Sajib took one wicket each.
In response, Riders also made a good start. Their openers -- LMP Simmons and Soumya Sarkar -- scored 36-run in 4.3-over before Hider made a double breakthrough.
Simmons made 25 while Mohammad Nabi and NLTC Perera scored 12 and 11 runs respectively. No other Rangpur batsman managed to reach double figure. The team were all out on 91-run.
Abu Hider and Ashar Zaidi picked up four wickets each while Mashrafe Mortaza and AD Russell took one wicket each.
Rangpur Riders, however, have another chance to reach into the final.
They will have to face the winner of Eliminator in the Qualifier 2 on December 13.
Barisal Bulls and Dhaka Dynamites will face each other in the Eliminator.
** Riders need 164-run in Qualifier 1
BDST: 1750 HRS, DEC 12, 2015
SR/SMS
