Comilla hand Barisal a 7-wicket thrashing

Comilla coasted to victory with Ahmed Shehzad and Ashar Zaidi at the crease. Their unbeaten 58-run stand removed the early jitters and gave Barisal their second defeat on the trot.

Ahmed Shehzad was not out on 76. He faced 63 balls and smashed ten fours and a six in his match-winning knock. Ashar Zaidi contributed with 20 runs on top of the two wickets he took earlier.

Barisal looked to have the upper hand when Comilla were tottering at 48 for three in the tenth over, but Shehzad took the match away with his brilliant effort.

Sajedul Islam, Al-Amin Hossain and Taijul Islam grabbed a wicket each, but didn’t have enough runs on the board to defend.

Comilla consolidated their top spot in the points table with this easy win, while Barisal were rooted at third position with three wins out of eight matches.

Shoaib Malik of Comilla had a rush of blood, ran down the track to Taijul, connected thin air and was easily stumped by Rony.

Comilla's Pakistani recruit struggled for 15 balls and managed eight runs before being dismissed.

Barisal Bulls kept up the pressure on Comilla Victorians with tight bowling to follow the early strikes by Sajedul and Al-Amin.

The fourth over saw another Comilla batsman perish after a string of dot balls. Imrul Kayes tried to defend a good length ball from Al-Amin but got a faint outside edge to the keeper.

Imrul like Liton failed to trouble the scorers

Liton Das fell on the first ball of the chase when he slashed a short, wide ball from Sajedul Islam to Sabbir Rahman at point. Barisal Bulls couldn’t have asked for a better start!

Earlier, Comilla Victorians grabbed Barisal Bulls by their horns and kept them down to only 105 runs in 20 overs.

Several Barisal batters got into the twenties, but were couldn’t break the shackles and score freely. Mahmudullah top-scored with 26 from 27 balls.

For Comilla, the bowlers responded brilliantly to their captain Mashrafe Mortaza’s call to pull up their socks, and never allowed Barisal batsmen to dominate proceedings in this game.

Ashar Zaidi took two wickets for 12 runs in four overs. Shoaib, Darren. Abu Hider and Kamrul picked up a wicket each.

Ashar Zaidi grabbed his second wicket and placed Comilla on top when his slow offies induced Rony Talukdar to a false stroke.

Rony scored 19 from 23 balls with two boundaries to his name.

Four wickets have fallen for 24 runs after the opening stand, and Barisal were looking down the barrel for certain.

Things got really bad for the Bulls, and the Victorians have successfully triggered a mini-collapse in the Barisal ranks.

Ashar Zaidi struck in the tenth over, when Maruf Mehedi played all over a full ball on middle, and left the field with a duck to his name.

Barisal were rocked in the ninth over when Evin Lewis slogged a full ball outside off from Stevens to deep midwicket. The Bulls opener didn’t hit the big shots today, managed 15 from 23 balls.

With Comilla tightening the noose around the Barisal batters, boundaries dried up and Bulls were scoring less than six runs per over.

Barisal Bulls slipped early in their innings when West Indian power-hitter Chris Gayle failed to fire again and couldn’t give his side an explosive start, much to the disappointment of his fans.

Shoaib Malik came to bowl the fifth over and trapped Gayle in front for only eight runs. The ball came in with the angle and struck the batsman flush on his pads. Umpire was slow to raise his finger and television replays suggested the ball might have missed the leg stump.

Comilla Victorians captain had earlier won the toss, and invited Barisal Bulls to bat first in this high-profile match of this year’s edition.

Comilla Victorians

Imrul Kayes, Liton Das (Wicketkeeper), Ahmed Shehzad, Shoaib Malik, Ashar Zaidi, DI Stevens, Shuvagata Hom, Alok Kapali, Mashrafe Mortaza (Captain), Kamrul Islam Rabbi and Abu Hider

Barisal Bulls

Rony Talukdar (Wicketkeeper), Mehedi Maruf, Mahmudullah (Captain), Sabbir Rahman, S Prasanna, RR Emrit, Al-Amin Hossain, Sajedul Islam, Taijul Islam, E Lewis and Chris Gayle