In a bid to retain the title, Fortune Barishal will take on Chittagong Kings in the grand final of the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in the city today (Friday), report agencies.
The match will start at 7pm.
Tamim Iqbal-led Barishal is considered as outright favourite for the second consecutive title after showing a consistent performance throughout the tournament.
If Barishal can retain the title, they will be the third team after Dhaka and Comilla franchise to win more than one BPL trophy. Both Dhaka and Comilla franchise won BPL trophy thrice.
Rangpur, Rajshahi and Barishal are the other three teams apart from the duo to clinch BPL trophy. Chittagong Kings moved to the final only once that too in 2013 but lost to eventual champions Dhaka Gladiators.
They would have to overcome a very strong team to secure their maiden BPL title.
Barishal ended the group phase as top topper after winning nine from 12 matches. In Qualifier-1 game too, they won with ease to confirm the final straightway.
Out of three, they conceded two defeats to Rangpur Riders and one against finalist Chittagong Kings.
However Barishal and Chittagong faced off thrice before the final with the Tamim-led side winning two, including the Qualifer-1. In the first-leg match, Barishal beat Chittagong by six wickets before tasting defeat in the second- leg match by 24 runs.
While Barishal ended as table topper, Chittagong finished at second spot, courtesy to their victory against Barishal in the last match of the group. But in Qualifer-1, the match turned out to be a mismatch with Bairshal just crushing them by nine wickets in a one-sided contest.
Chittagong then had to play the Qualifier-2 game in which they faced off Khulna Tigers, the team which won the Eliminator game against Rangpur Riders.
The Qualifier-2 game turned out to be the best match in this season with Chittagong prevailing in the thrilling contest by two wickets, confirming the victory in the last ball.
Meanwhile, Barishal captain Tamim Iqbal said they are looking forward to winning another title of the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) when they take on Chittagong Kings on Friday in Dhaka.
Barishal won last year's title-the first in BPL history. Tamim said they are confident of lifting the title again.
Ahead of the final, Barishal are the top team in the points table, meaning they are stepping to the final as the favourite to win the trophy.
In the pre-final press conference, Tamim was delighted with the supporter base the Barishal team has enjoyed throughout the event."Wherever we played-in Dhaka, Chattogram or Sylhet-we get a lot of support," Tamim said. "Barishal has been very successful in garnering a great support base."
While Barishal has been at the top places of the points table, Chittagong have also done well so far. They beat Khulna Tigers to book a place in the final, and they proved that they can be a tough opponent for Barishal in the final.
Fortune Barishal's head coach Mizanur Rahman Babul believes star batter Towhid Hridoy will be able to break his Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) final jinx .
This will be Hridoy's fourth straight final in BPL but in the past three editions, he failed to touch the golden trophy.
The jinx began in 2022 when he was the part of Fortune Barishal but his side lost the final to Comilla Victorians.
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