In the opening match of BPL, Fortune Barisal has made it clear that they do not want to miss out on the title. The reigning champions returned to Durbar after three years to open the tournament with a 4-wicket win over Rajshahi.
The match was high scoring at Mirpur Sher Bangla Stadium. Rajshahi initially gave them a huge target of 198 runs. Barisal was in danger at the beginning of this big goal. Lose 5 wickets for 61 runs! After that the experienced Mahmudullah Riyad changed the course of the match with two excellent partnerships. 51 with two Pakistani stars Shaheen Afridi (27) and 88 with Faheem Ashraf confirmed the win with 11 balls left.
Even though Rajshahi lost 6 wickets, Mahmudullah remained unbeaten in an explosive innings of 56 runs from 26 balls with 5 fours and 4 sixes. He is man of the match. Fahim Ashraf was no less. He gave an unbeaten innings of 54 runs in 21 balls with 1 four and 7 sixes. Before that, Taskin broke Shaheen Afridi-Mahmudullah's sixth wicket partnership of 51 runs.
Taskin Ahmed took three wickets for Rajshahi for 31 runs. Hasan Murad took two for 42 runs. One was taken by Jisan Alam.
Earlier, Yasir Ali's unbeaten innings of 94 runs from 47 balls and captain Enamul Haque Vijay's innings of 65 runs from 51 balls got a big score for Rajshahi. 197 runs for 3 wickets. Yasir's devastating batting included 7 fours and 8 sixes. Vijay's innings had 4 fours and 5 sixes. However, losing 2 wickets for 25 runs, they were under pressure in the beginning. From there, Yasir-Enamul's 140-run partnership for the third wicket turned the team around. Kyle Meyers took two wickets for 13 runs for Barisal. Fahim Ashraf took one.
