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heroic knock to bring Barishal close to the title again, but when it got tight, Rishad prevailed.

With Barishal needing eight off the last over, the first delivery from Hussain Talat sailed over long-on for a six to get Barishal into breathing space. Needing one in three deliveries, Talat bowled a short one that went over Tanvir Islam’s head, and although the batter could not complete a single, he rejoiced as the umpire signaled wide. Rishad remained unbeaten on a six-ball 18 as Barishal celebrated yet another BPL triumph.

Tamim showed the full array of his strokeplay against the new ball, finding boundaries with immaculate timing. He smashed Binura Fernando for three fours in the first over of the Barishal chase to show the quality of the batting surface.

Shoriful produced a double breakthrough in the ninth over, first with Tamim getting holed out at long-off before scalping Dawid Malan out leg-before. Tawhid Hridoy had been playing second fiddle to Tamim but when he departed to Naeem Islam, out for a 28-ball 32, Barishal were slipping.

Mayers, Barishal’s hero in last BPL final, first strung a 14-ball 34-run stand with Mushfiqur Rahim and a 29-ball 42-run stand with Mahmudullah Riyad, to bring Barishal into the driving seat. Shoriful brought further life back into the game, removing Mayers after a 28-ball 46 and then bagging Mahmudullah.

In the end, Rishad’s two sixes, one off Binura and then off Talat in the final, proved to be the difference.

Earlier in the first innings, Khawaja Nafay and Emon propelled the opening partnership with a lot of authority from early in the innings. In the process, the Chittagong opening duo produced the highest-ever opening stand in a BPL final with a 121-run stand, overtaking the 76-run stand by Tamim Iqbal and Mehedi Hasan Miraz in last year’s BPL final.

The Powerplay saw Emon take control, hitting Kyle Mayers for boundaries to get the innings motoring along. He would hit left-arm spinner Tanvir for two big sixes in the fourth over to put real momentum to the innings. As the Powerplay finished at 57 for no loss, Nafay finally came to the party after a slow start.

With Emon completing a 30-ball fifty, Nafay hit Rishad for back-to-back sixes to complete his own fifty. After 12 overs, Chittagong were 115 for no loss and it looked like they would get over 200 in the all-important final.

Ebadot Hossain broke the partnership with the wicket of Nafay, out for a 44-ball 66, nicking a delivery to wicket-keeper Mushfiqur Rahim. However, the acceleration in the death overs was slightly stifled by Barishal bowlers.

Emon and Graham Clark picked off Tanvir for a 22-run over but Mohammad Ali bowled the 17th and 20th overs, conceding just 10 runs. Despite Emon’s unbeaten 49-ball 78 and Clark’s 23-ball 44, Chittagong reached 194 for three with Ali being the pick of the Barishal bowlers with 21 for one in four overs.

Barishal captain Tamim was adjudged the man of the final for his 29-ball 54 while Khulna captain Mehedi Hasan Miraz was adjudged as the player of the tournament for 355 runs and 13 wickets.