Mahmudullah, Cooper shine for Barisal Bulls as Chittagong Vikings falter at home

Barisal Bulls have piled more misery on Chittagong Vikings with a crushing victory in the first match of the second phase of the Bangladesh Premier League.

The Vikings slipped to their fourth defeat in five matches while the Bulls took their third win in four with the 33-run rout at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chittagong on Monday.

A fine half-century from skipper Mahmudullah (51) and some late hitting from Seekkuge Prasanna (36 off 20) and Kevon Cooper (21 off 11) helped the team from Barisal to recover from an early setback to post 170 for 7 in 20 overs.

Much to the dismay of the home crowd, the Vikings lost wickets regularly in their chase before folding for 137 in the last over.

After captain Tamim Iqbal (6) went back off Al-Amin Hossain in the first over, the Vikings' innings had no notable contribution barring a late 45-run partnership between Naeem Islam (38) and Mohammad Amir (20).

When Anamul Haque (12) went back as Al-Amin's second scalp, the Vikings had slipped to 51 for 5 in the 10th over. With the run rate soaring, they needed something extraordinary to make a comeback.

Islam and Amir were able to arrest the slide and gain some momentum late on, but Cooper got them both with slower deliveries.

Cooper was impressive with the ball, too, grabbing three wickets and effecting a run out before Mahmudullah went through the gates of Enamul Haque junior (3) to finish it off in the penultimate ball.

Man-of-the Match Cooper returned 3 for 28 in 4 overs. Al-Amin Hossain chipped in with two wickets.

The Vikings' seemed to have vindicated their decision to field first when their Barisal opponents' were reduced to 12 for 3 in the third over.

But Mehedi Maruf (28) and Mahmudllah added 40 runs together to steady the rocking boat.

Ziaur Rahman struck twice in two successive overs to see the back of Maruf and Nadif as Prasanna walked in.

The Sri Lankan blasted four sixes off two overs, off Zia and Shafiul Islam, while a Mahmudullah hammered Enamul flat over long-on to dramatically raise the run-rate.

After Prasanna perished off Amir, Cooper joined in hammering Elton Chigumbura for 22 in the penultimate over, that saw nine deliveries and took the Bulls past 150.

Amir and Zia took two wickets each for the Vikings.