Comilla Victorians won the Bangabandhu Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) 2022 title beating Fortune Barishal by one run in the nail-biting final on Friday in Mirpur.

In the last two overs, Barishal needed 16 runs, but they fell short of one run. In the 19th over, Mustafizur Rahman conceded only six runs and bagged one wicket. 

In the last over, Shohidul Islam defended nine runs despite a wide ball and a dropped catch by Tanvir Islam.

Read: BPL 2022 in numbers: Jacks scores most runs, Mustafizur bags most wickets

Towhid Hridoy and Mujeeb Ur Rahman failed to score 10 runs in the last over. Five of the last six balls were played by Towhid who scored only five runs. 

Before the last two overs by Mustafizur and Shohidul, Sunil Narine gave only two runs off the 18th over which made the finishing tough for Barishal. They never were able to come up from that damage done by Narine. 

While chasing a challenging target of 152 runs, Barishal failed to have a good start as they lost Munim Shariar for a duck. The right-handed batter has done well in previous games.

However, in the second wicket stand, Chris Gayle and Shykat Ali posted 74 runs, which set a great foundation for the Fortune Barishal. Shykat, who was playing only the fourth match in this BPL, hit a 26-ball fifty. He ended up on 58 with 11 fours and one six. 

After Shykat’s removal, Nurul Hasan joined Gayle in the crease but failed to prove his mettle once again scoring only 14. Gayle remained firm at the other end of the wicket but was unable to do much of what he is expected from the fans. 

Gayle ended his last innings of this BPL on 33 off 31 balls with a four and two sixes with 45 runs were needed off 43 balls. Najmul Hossain Shanto was required to do something to chase down this target, but they failed. 

Eventually, some good bowling show in the death overs helped Comilla win their third title in BPL— joined the most successful team in BPL history with Dhaka-based teams. 

For Comilla, Sunil Narine and Tanvir Islam bagged two wickets each while Mustafizur and Shohidul took one wicket each. 

Earlier, Narine hit 57 off 23 with five fours and five sixes while Moeen Ali scored 38 off 32 for the Victorians. Despite losing regular wickets, Victorians were able to post a challenging total riding on the batting of these two. 

Three of the top four— Liton Das, Faf du Plessis, Mahmudul Hasan Joy— failed to reach a double-digit score. 

Read: BPL 2022: Narine, Moeen propel Comilla to 151 in final

In 2.5 overs, Comilla posted 40 thanks to Narine’s outstanding batting display. The first-wicket stand was broken by Shakib Al Hasan. The Barishal captain came to bowl in the third over of the innings and removed Liton for four. 

In the sixth over, Mehedi Hasan Rana removed Narine for 57. Mehedi started the over conceding a six. But he managed to recover and remove Narine. Najmul Hossain Shanto took a great catch at the deep. 

Imrul Kayes, the struggling captain of Comilla, failed with the bat once again scoring 12 off 12. He was removed by Dwayne Bravo— the bowler who helped Barishal to come to the final playing so well throughout the event. 

Abu Hider Rony scored 12 playing 27 balls. He helped Comilla to play all of the stipulated overs. 

For Barishal, Mujeeb Ur Rahman and Shafiqul Islam scalped two wickets each while Shakib, Bravo and Mehedi bagged one wicket each. 

With the latest title, Imrul Kayes became the most successful captain in BPL after Mashrafe Bin Mortaza won more than one title in BPL. He led the victory lap after taking off his jersey in joy in front of roughly 10 thousand spectators. 

Shakib led Barishal both with the ball and bat throughout the event, but in the end, he has to bite the dust. Along with Shakib, West Indian superstar Gayle also looked shocked in front of the dressing room when Imrul was leading the victory lap.