Barishal, Chittagong vie for BPL final

Dhaka, 2 Feb - Fortune Barishal will take on a resurgent Chittagong Kings in the Qualifier 1 game Monday at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium to make a direct entry to the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) final. 

The match starts at 6.30 PM.

While the winner will make a direct entry to the final, for loser, there will 
be another chance to give a shot at the final. In this case, the loser will 
take on the winner of the Eliminator game, a match that will be held between 
the Rangpur Riders and Khulna Tigers. 

The game begins at 1.30 PM at the same venue.

If Barishal win tomorrow's game, they will make a giant stride to retain the 
title. The defending champions came to the playoffs as table topper after 
amassing 18 points, meaning they lost three matches out of 12.

Amongst the three, two came against Rangpur Riders while the only other 
defeat came at the hands of their Qualifier 1 opponents Chittagong at the 
last match of the group phase.
 
Barishal, however, were at the second spot for most of the time in the point 
table, largely due to a Rangpur Juggernaut. Nurul Hasan Sohan-led Rangpur won 
first eight matches in a row to keep them on extreme high but a sudden slump 
of form saw them losing four matches on the trot. They paid the price of the 
slump, being denied the top two finish on point table.

Chittagong Kings rise on the other hand was extraordinary. For large part of 
the tournament, they were not sure if they can place them in top four.
 
But toward the end of the group phase, they clawed back in amazing fashion 
and beat top teams like Rangpur and Barishal in a row. They, however, secured 
the second spot in the last game of the group phase, when they beat Barishal 
by 24 runs after racking 206-4.

They, in fact, snapped Barishal's five-match winning streak to take them to 
the second spot.

Still Barishal are believed to come as favourite in the Qualifier 1 game but 
the resurgence of Chittagong might be a tough pill to swallow for them.BSS