Heartbreak for Riders as Duronto in last-four

Barisal Burners rode on Hamid Hasan’s raw pace to beat Rangpur Riders by 26 runs in the Bangladesh Premier League at Mirpur, crushing their last-four hopes.
The win took Duronto Rajshahi to the last four on head-to-head count as the three teams were level on 10 points after each side completed their 12 league matches.
Duronto have three wins against Burners and Riders, while Riders have just two wins. Burners, who lost to Duronto twice and won a game against Riders, were eliminated after their loss to Sylhet Royals a day earlier.
The Afghan pacer Hamid ripped through the batting line-up of Riders, claiming three wickets in his opening spell to put the newcomers in deep trouble from which they could not recover as they were dismissed for 113 in 20 overs chasing the Burners’ 139-7.
Hasan claimed his first wicket with the fourth delivery of the innings when he dismissed Junaed Siddique (0) and put in an even better display in his second over by removing in-form Shamsur Rahman (3) with his first ball and followed that up by disloging Nasir Hossain (1).
The rest of the Burners bowlers did not waste the opportunity to keep up the pressure on Riders and eventually booked them for 113 despite the efforts of Cameron Borgas (32) and Danza Hayat (25), who tried in vain to salvage some pride.
The pair attempted to steady the ship putting on 47 runs for the fifth wicket but after Nazmul Apu broke the stand by inviting Borgas to come down the track only to be stumped, it was all but over for the Riders.
Kevin O’Brien made 29 from 16 balls with two sixes and as many fours but it was never good enough to take his team to victory as the creeping run rate went out of their reach.
Earlier, Sazu Datta claimed 3-23 and he was ably supported by off-spinner Nasir Hossain, who kept the batsmen on a tight leash on the Burners’ batsmen as he conceded only 14 runs in his four overs with a wicket.
Burners’ Sri Lankan recruit Ferveez Maharoof along with Elias Sunny made a late lower-order revival by adding a valuable 49 runs for the seventh wicket to take the Barisal side to a respectable total of 139-7.
Maharoof struck an unbeaten run-a-ball 34 with the help of two sixes and a boundary while Sunny made 30 runs from 20 balls with five-sweetly timed boundaries.
BRIEF SCORES
Barisal Burners 139-7 in 20 overs (F Maharoof 34 not out, E Sunny 30, A Kapali 25; S Datta 3-23, K O’Brien 2-31) v Rangpur Riders 113 in 20 overs (CJ Borgas 32, K O’Brien 29, DP Hyatt 25; H Hassan 3-22, N Islam 2-19, F Maharoof 2-30).
Result: Barisal Burners won by 26 runs.
Man of the match: H Hassan (BB).