Comilla down Rangpur to secure second spot in BPL table, to face Sylhet in Qualifier 1

Comilla Victorians secured their position in the top two of the BPL points table and will face table-toppers Sylhet Strikers in the first qualifier. On the other hand, Rangpur Riders' six-match winning streak was broken as they lost by 70 runs and they now have to play the eliminator against Fortune Barishal.

Comilla lost their first three matches but bounced back in style by winning the next nine games in a row. They were by far the better side in an important game on Friday where the winner would make the first qualifier. They defended 177 with utmost disdain, giving absolutely nothing away. 

Comilla had a prolific powerplay (63/2) with Litton Das taking down the bowling right from the start. Mohammad Rizwan, his partner, looked in decent touch but fell to the in-form Azmatullah Omarzai in the fifth over. Comilla sent in Sunil Narine as a pinch-hitter. The southpaw hit two fours in a row but Ripon Mondol had the last laugh. 

Litton (47 off 33) looked set for a big one but fell just three short of a half-century. After a few quiet overs because of the fall of Litton and skipper Imrul Kayes (19 off 20), Comilla stepped on the accelerator. 

Jaker Ali smashed three maximums in his 23-ball-34 and their designated finisher Khushdil Shah remained unbeaten on 40 off 20 with the help of two fours and three sixes. The big-hitting Andre Russell didn't get to face more than one ball.

Omarzai, one of the tournament's most succesful bowlers, picked up two wickets. Left-arm spinner Rakibul Hasan was economical, giving away 18 off four overs, and got the prized scalp of Litton.

Rangpur lost four of their top five inside the powerplay and couldn't recover from there. Rahmanullah Gurbaz (29 off 22) tried hard but his wicket in the 11th over was the last nail in Rangpur's coffin. 

Mustafizur Rahman was the pick of the Comilla bowlers and his three for 18 included the wickets of Gurbaz and Shamim Hossain. The spin-bowling duo of Tanvir Islam and Narine shared four among them and had almost identical figures. 

Tanvir has been Comilla's most trusted weapon this season and the spinner got the player-of-the-match award. 

"Feeling very good. I was determined to perform well this season and glad that it is coming out well. I've been practicing a lot and have been trying to bowl by adapting to the batter's mindset," Tanvir said while collecting the award.