The 11th edition of the Bangladesh Premier League Twenty20 ended with a competitive and crowd-pulling final as Fortune Barishal successfully defended their title in a high-scoring encounter.
Plenty of runs was one of the positives of this year’s BPL, and the grand finale followed a similar script where competition between bat and ball seemed even.
The match took place amid a festive environment in Mirpur Friday evening as the venue was packed to the brim.
The finale was perfect for the weekend crowd in terms of entertainment as Chittagong Kings posted a challenging 194 on the board in the first innings which Barishal chased down with just three deliveries to spare.
Barishal needed their experienced skipper Tamim Iqbal to lead from the front during a pressure chase.
And the left-hander did exactly what his team hoped for, striking a brilliant innings of 54 off just 29 deliveries.
It was a match-winning knock from the star opener and he was later adjudged player of the final for his superb batting in the big clash.
Tamim finished this year's campaign with 413 runs (fourth highest in the list) at an average of 37.54 and strike rate of 129.06.
He recently confirmed his retirement from international cricket and Bangladesh Cricket Board marked the occasion Friday by handing special mementoes to the former Tigers captain for his glittering career.
Emotional Tamim thanked BCB, his family and fans when he shared his thoughts upon receiving the honor.
“I have enjoyed my 17 years of career in international cricket. My uncle (Akram Khan) was the winning Bangladesh captain of ICC Trophy and I saw how the nation celebrated that day at a very young age. From that day, I wanted to be a cricketer. My father also had dreams that one day I will play for Bangladesh. He is not with me now, but I am sure he would have been very proud of what I have achieved while playing for my country,” said Tamim.
The southpaw played 70 Test matches, 243 One Day Internationals and 78 T20 Internationals.
He scored 5,134 Test runs, 8,357 ODI runs and 1,758 T20Is runs in his illustrious career.
