A rain-shortened match between Rangpur Riders and Lahore Qalandars saw the Bangladesh Premier League side make the final of the ExxonMobil Guyana Global Super League (GSL) after they won by 23 runs on the Duckworth/Lewis/Stern method.
Friday’s final will see Cricket Victoria take on Rangpur Riders to determine who will lift the inaugural GSL trophy.
The weather intervened on a couple of occasions at Providence, to such an extent that the match was eventually reduced to a nine-over shootout.
Riders captain Nurul Hasan won the toss and elected to bat first.
Eventual Player-of-the-Match Steven Taylor and Soumya Sarkar got the Riders off to a healthy start, putting on 47 runs for the opening stand before Sarkar was bowled by Salman Mirza for 22 runs off 13 deliveries.
The wicket brought Saif Hassan to the crease and he set about plundering Qalandars attack, finding the fence on five occasions with four fours and a towering six.
Hassan and Taylor remained undefeated on 27 (14) and 32 (27) respectively when the rains returned and denied them the rest of their batting effort.
It was calculated by DLS that Qalandars would require a stiff 111 runs off their nine overs in order to win.
The task was a steep one and so it proved, despite 31 off 20 from Mirza Baig and a rapid 25 off 12 balls from Tom Abell the run rate was too steep for the Qalandars and they lost wickets attempting to throw caution to the wind and find the necessary boundaries to keep them in the hunt.
Needing 33 runs off the final over, Faheem hit a six off the first ball before nudging a single to bring Carlos Brathwaite on strike.
Needing four sixes in a row at the last it was fitting that Brathwaite was on strike but he couldn’t repeat the heroics and thunderous sixes he struck off Ben Stokes in the 2016 World T20 final, Zak Chappell bowled him first ball.
Qalandars ended up on 87-7 off their nine overs, a valiant effort but the DLS target was a challenging one and proved just out of reach.
The final scores meant that Qalandars were knocked out and so too home side Guyana Amazon Warriors as the margin of victory was too great by the Riders.
Each side finished on four points apiece but the superior run rate saw Riders go through to Friday’s grand final where Victoria await. (GSL)
