Tamim, Saifuddin give Barishal 27-run win over hapless Dhaka
Captain Tamim Iqbal led from the front with a 71-run innings from 45 balls and was adjudged the Player of the Match as Barishal scored 186 runs in their first innings.
Fortune Barishal may not have started the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) as well as they would have liked but now they are starting to find their feet with wins at the backend of the tournament.
That trend continued as they won against a hapless Durdanto Dhaka by 27 runs at Chattogram on Wednesday.
Captain Tamim Iqbal led from the front with a 71-run innings from 45 balls and was adjudged the Player of the Match as Barishal scored 186 runs in their first innings.
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After the match, Tamim however gave credit to the bowling unit for this performance as they restricted Dhaka to 159-8 in their 20 overs.
"I strongly believe the bowling unit is responsible for today's win. Bowlers win you tournaments," the left-handed opener said.
Speaking of bowlers, Mohammad Saifuddin was effective with both bat and ball in the match as he took 3-31 in his four overs and also scored 23 runs from just six balls at the end to spruse up the Barishal total.
South African bowler Keshav Maharaj made his debut in this match for Barishal as the off-spinner took 1-19 in his four overs while West Indian pacer Obed McCoy also kept things tight with 1-17 in his four overs.
Pacer Khaled Ahmed was among the wickets for Barishal as he took 3-26 in his four overs.
Tamim also added that he felt they were "10-15 runs short on this surface" and could have done "better with the bat" despite the win.
Barishal move up to 3rd spot in the points table with 10 points from nine matches, behind Comilla Victorians and Rangpur Riders.
With three games remaining for Barishal, they will need at least to more or less guarantee qualification into the next round.
Tamim was asked if he had any messages for the teams above them in the points table but he said: "No messages. I prefer we focus on our jobs and do them well to ensure we get through to the qualifiers."
For Dhaka, they had Alex Ross top-scoring for them with 89 not out from 49 balls but didn't find much support from the others.
It was a similar story with their bowling as they failed to put pressure on as a unit and the tournament's top wicket-taker Shoriful Islam was also expensive, giving away 40 runs in his four overs and taking just one wicket.
