Comilla Victorians went on top of the point table by securing a thumping 71-run win over Sylhet Super Stars which shattered the latter’s BPL play-off aspiration  at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium yesterday.  The outcome of the match propelled Dhaka Dynamites to the qualifier stage as the fourth team even before their last match against Barisal Bulls set off. Super Stars possibility for qualifying hinged on their big margin win against Comilla and Dhaka’s defeat but they failed to do the primary job properly and ended the BPL mission with disappointing fashion.
Even though the bowlers were not as enthused as they should be, they restricted Victorians to 150 for four and got an equation to gun it down within 10.4 overs to level their run-rate with Dynamites. On a slower pitch it was difficult to play shots which probably prompted them to end the tournament in decent way rather than giving the chase a try. But an abject batting performance forced them to end it lowly as they were bowled out for 79 in just 13.4 overs. Ahmed Shehzad once again provided the impetus in Victorians innings, hitting 42 off  31, that studded with five fours and a six. His knock was complemented by Alok Kapali’s unbeaten 26 ball-31 and Ashar Zaidi’s 29 ball-31.
An accurate bowling of the Super Stars bowlers at the initial stage kept Victorians openers Imrul Kayes and Liton Das at bay and the latter perished after trying to break the shackle. However Super Stars bowlers couldn’t continue the venture at same vein when Ahmed Shehzad came into the crease. Shehzad was smart enough to make them disarray, rotating the scoreboard with a series of singles. As he set him in the crease, he unleashed some powerful shots around the wicket to leave them in dazed state.
Rubel Hossain brought back the side in contention, removing Shehzad while captain Shahid Afridi got rid of Kayes (28). Those two wickets in quick succession gave Super Stars a genuine chance to restrict Victorians a below par total. But they failed to come up with creative plan as Zaidi and Kapali plundering them effortlessly to give the side a respectable score on the board.
It needed a blazing start should they wanted to give it a try since they needed to gun it down by 10.3 overs. Joshua Cobb and Junaid Siddique weren’t the player who could score 15 runs in an over and therefore perhaps they didn’t give it a try rather than trying to bid the tournament bye in decent way but that wasn’t not to be. Junaid Siddique and Cobb played a forceful shot to lead their downfall and left the side in 33 for two. Still no one could anticipate they would be all out below 100. But the stage was set when Ravi Bopara freakishly ran him out. His run-out dismissal sparked the sensational collapse and Super Stars started losing wickets in a cluster. No one could seemed to be willing to hold together the innings. Cobb’s 21 was the highest score for Super Stars while Mominul Haque was not out on 15.