Comilla Victorians 144 for 2 (Buttler 48*, Samuels 35*, Roy 2-24) beat Chittagong Vikings 143 for 7 (Ronchi 40, Sarkar 38, Saifuddin 3-24, Dwayne Bravo 2-29) by eight wickets
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Comilla Victorians inflicted a collapse on Chittagong Vikings, before an efficient chase took them to an eight-wicket win. Mohammad Saifuddin and Dwayne Bravo starred with the ball for Comilla, before Jos Buttler scored 48 to help them chase 144.
Chittagong would rue giving away a good start, having reached 91 for 1 in the 10th over, but hardly making any noise in the final half of the innings - making only 52 runs and losing six wickets.
After Buttler had set up Comilla's chase, Marlon Samuels and Imrul Kayes finished the job with efficiency as the Chittagong bowlers couldn't quite force the issue.
Soumya's reverse-sweep headlines fast start
Luke Ronchi had struck a six off the first ball of the third over but when Soumya timed his reverse-sweep to perfection, Comilla knew they were in trouble. The left-hander had been in woeful form for much of Bangladesh's tour of South Africa, except for the two T20Is at the end.
The switch-hit was followed by Ronchi striking Al-Amin Hossain for consecutive fours in the next over. He then went on to hit twin sixes off Dwayne Bravo, the first one a fantastic piece of timing despite being beaten by the slower ball. Soumya struck two more fours in the sixth over before Ronchi fell for 40 in the same over, having struck three sixes and four fours in his 21-ball knock.
Dilshan Munaweera tried to keep up the pace while Comilla also erred in the field. Having dropped Ronchi when he was on nine in the second over, Al-Amin's movement at deep midwicket was astounding as he didn't get under a Soumya mis-hit. He signalled that it was the sun but he was wearing a cap; Bravo, the bowler, was unhappy. Chittagong reached 91 for 1 after 10 overs, with one eye on a 200-plus score.
A stuttering collapse
Comilla's fightback began in the 12th over, when Munaweera needlessly scooped one to Marlon Samuels at short fine leg. Saifuddin then got into the game with two consecutive wickets in the 14th over. Sarkar missed a paddle sweep to be bowled before Anamul Haque was caught at long-on for three. After three more wickets fell, Sikandar Raza struck two fours in the last over - there were three in the last 10 overs - to take them past the 140-mark.
Buttler gets underway
Liton Das and Jos Buttler let fly from the second over of the 144-run chase, hitting a flurry of fours and sixes. Liton struck Shuvo for a four through the covers and a swept six over fine-leg. Taskin Ahmed was hit through point over mid-on for a four and six respectively by Buttler. Sunzamul Islam was given the triple treatment - a four through midwicket, a blast over long-on for a six and a chip over midwicket for another four.
Subashis Roy trapped Liton leg-before in the fifth over, after which Buttler and Imrul Kayes added 57 runs for the second wicket. Buttler was caught behind off Subashis too, after making a 42-ball 48 with three fours and two sixes.
A well-orchestrated finish
Samuels and Kayes, didn't allow any more hiccups in the Comilla chase, adding the remaining 44 runs in just 3.4 overs. Samuels struck four boundaries and a six in his unbeaten 18-ball 35, while Kayes struck a four and a six in his 31-ball 33. Comilla won with 16 balls to spare.
What they said
"Sometimes it happens when you have 80-odd runs and you are going ten an over, you starting thinking ahead to 200-plus. I think in the coming games we need to be very careful about that in the middle overs, even if we are playing a T20 game. We need to be sensible."
Chittagong captain Misbah-ul-Haq on the their batting collapse
