BPL 3 Match 23 Review: Comilla Victorians v Barisal Bulls, Bowlers and Shehzad give Victorians a comfortable 7-wicket win

Comilla Victorians won the toss and opt to bowl under bowler friendly conditions. With overcast weather has hardly been any sunshine which has affected the nature of the pitches as well. Ahmed Shehzad, Shoaib Malik, Ashar Zaidi and Darren Stevens were the overseas stars to feature for the Victorians, while Barisal continued with Chris Gayle, Evin Lewis, Seekkuge Prasanna and Rayad Emrit as their overseas players. The bowlers bowled brilliantly for the Comilla outfit, restricting a solid batting lineup of Barisal to just 106/6, that paved the way for an easy win for their team.

Gayle was the first to go for 8 with the score on 21 off 4.3 overs. A ball from Malik came in with the angle, hit his pads and the Jamaican was out LBW. Malik then took a fine catch of Lewis who tried to slog Stevens but could only manage to loft the ball only as far as deep midwicket where the Pakistani all-rounder took a brilliant catch. None of the batsmen could convert their starts, something which cost the team dearly. Rony Talukdar scored 19, skipper Mahmudullah top scored with 26 and Sabbir Rahman made 17, however failed to stamp their authority on the bowlers. Zaidi bowled 4 superb overs and took 2 wickets conceding only 12 runs. Stevens’ spell of 1/9 and that of Malik, 1/15, were also brilliant. Prasanna remained unbeaten on 15 off 10 and took the total to 106.

Comilla Victorians got off to a horrible start as their openers were back in the dressing room rather qickly.  Both scored ducks and at the score of 14/2 Malik came into bat but couldn’t provide the kind of support Shehzad was expecting. He threw his wicket away after going for a big stroke. From this moment onwards though, a very calm and sensible approach from Shehzad and Zaidi ensured no further damage for their team. Shehzad pounced on poor deliveries kept the run-rate within reach. Bulls’ bowlers couldn’t do much as their batters, for the second successive time had let them down leaving them a paltry total to defend.  Ahmed Shehzad struck an unbeaten 63-ball 76 to seal win and Zaidi remained on 20* off 18.

Brief scores:

Barisal Bulls – 105/6 from 20 overs (Mahmudullah 26; A Zaidi 2/12)

Comilla Victorians – 106/3 from 17.3 overs (A Shehzad 76; Al-Amin Hossain 1/11)

Man of the Match: Ahmed Shehzad (Comilla Victorians)B