Sports Desk :Barisal Bulls reached final beating Rangpur Riders by 5 wickets in the Eliminator match of the 3rd Bangladesh Premier League amid cricket enthusiasts at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in here on Sunday.Batting first after winning the toss in the must-win match for setting the final berth, Rangpur Riders scored 160 for 9 in 20 overs spurred by the opener Lendl Simmons mesmerizing knock of 73 off 57 balls involving nine fours and two sixes.Barisal Bulls reached their target playing 19.3 overs and scored 163 losing 5 wickets.Lendl Simmons was bowled out off a Mohammad Sami bowling leaving team total at 125/4 in 16.5 overs.Rangpur Riders started with good note as their opening pair between Lendl Simmons and Abdullah Al Mamun carried the team total to 52 off 8.3 overs before Mamun was bowled off a Seekkuge Prasanna bowling.Later on, number six batsman Darren Sammy hammered 23 off 10 balls with three fours and one six before he was caught by Taijul Islam off a Kevon Cooper delivery leaving team’s at 158/7 in 19.4 overs.Opening batter Abdullah Al Mamun scored 20 off 23 balls with one four and one six while famed all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan added 13 off 10 balls with one six.Kevon Cooper dismissed four wickets for 32 runs in four overs. Seekkuge Prasanna, Al-Amin Hossain and Mohammad Sami took one wicket each for 20, 30 and 31 runs respectively in three, four and four overs.The winners of the day’s match will play final against the Comilla Victorians; the side confirmed their final berth crushing Rangpur Riders by 72 runs in the first qualifier match on Saturday last, at 6:30pm on Tuesday (December 15) at the same venue.
