Fortune Barishal thumped Rangpur Riders by 6 wickets on Wednesday (28th February) at Shere Bangla National Cricket Stadium to reach the final of BPL 2024. Kyle Mayers all round brilliance both with bat and ball helped Barishal cruise pass the challenge of Rangpur Riders and defied the heroics of Shamim Hossain.

Earlier, Fortune Barishal won the toss and chose to bowl first. The Fortune Barishal bowlers made merry. Mohammad Saifuddin ran riot through the top order of Rangpur Riders and got the wickets of opener Mahedi Hasan and Bangladesh superstar Shakib Al Hasan for just 1 off 4. Kyle Mayers had serious swing and removed the opener Rony Talukder for a sedate 8 off 12.

Foreign recruitments of Rangpur Riders failed miserably as Nicholas Pooran was out for just 3 after consuming 12 balls. At one point, Rangpur Riders were reduced to 77-7 and then Shamim Hossain came. He inspired Rangpur a sensational comeback. Took his time to get settled and once he did it, he started to smack the Fortune Barishal bowlers. He did sweep, reverse sweep to race to his fifty off only 20 deliveries, fastest in this BPL season. In the 19th over, Obed Mccoy conceded 26 runs off it and Rangpur Riders were absolutely flying at that moment. With the help of Shamim's 59 off only 24 deliveries Rangpur Riders posted 149 runs.

In reply, Fortune Barishal had a sedate start as Abu Hayder Roni ran riot through the top order of Barishal. Picking up the wickets of Tamim Iqbal and Mehedy Hasan Miraz respectively. And then Soumya Sarkar and Mushfiqur Rahim stitched a partnership of 47 runs, which took them out of hole. After the departure of Soumya, Kyle Mayers came to tee off the Rangpur bowlers. Smacking them everywhere in the park and raced to 28 off only 15 balls.

Mushfiqur Rahim's unbeaten 47* off 33 balls and David Miller's 22* off 18 helped them chase down the total with 6 wickets in hands and 9 balls to spare.