Ahmed Shehzad made the most of two drop catches to score an unbeaten century leading Barisal Burners into the final of Bangladesh Premier League with an eight-wicket win over Duronto Rajshahi on Tuesday.
Barisal, who were controversially given an entry in the semi-final, rode on Shehzad’s 113 off 49 balls to reach 189-2 in just 16 overs after they restricted Rajshahi to 184 for six.
Shehzad, who clubbed 12 fours and six sixes and completed his century off 40 balls, the quickest in the tournament, was dropped twice by Sabbir Rahman at midwicket on 23 and Taijul Islam at deep midwicket on 71.
He added 103 runs with Brad Hodge in the opening
partnership in just 7.5 overs, which effectively threw Rajshahi out of the match.
Hodge (33), who was about to leave Dhaka and was called back from the airport, was also benefited by Rajshahi’s butter-fingered fielding as Monir Hossain dropped him on one in just the second over of the innings.
Earlier, paceman Yasir Arafat shattered Rajshahi in the first over of the game with three wickets in the space of four balls and gave away just three runs.
Mushfiqur Rahim and Sean Ervine recovered
from the damage with a 110-run stand before an unfortunate run out of Mushfiq separated them. Mushfiq made 58 off 33 balls to score his first fifty in a Twenty20 game.
Ervine, who scored 82 off 61 balls, suffered the same fate few overs later. Abdul Razzaq was unbeaten on 32 off 19 balls.
-With New Age input
