In the EliminatorChattogram Challengers defeated Dhaka Platoon by 7 wickets, and reached to Qualifier 2. As a result of this match BPL going to witness a new champion under a new captain. In the Qualifier 1 top ranked Khulna Tigers, batting first could only manage a sub-per 158 runs courtesy of Nazmul Hossain Shanto's 78*, in reply Rajshahi Royals lost five wickets in powerplay and kept losing wickets in regular interval on the other handShoaib Malik who scored 80 runs could not find any support from other end, while Tiger's Mohammad Amir picking up 6-fer, recorded the bestbowling figures in BPL history. At the end, Royals fell short of 27 runs before being all out the in last ball of their innings and Khulna sealed their spot in the BPL final for the first time. In the Qualifier 2, Chattogram Challengers, the winner of Eliminator, being asked to bat first by Rajshahi Royals, loser of the Qualifier 1, could manage a per-total of 164 losing 9 wickets with the help of Chris Gayle's quickfire 60 off 24 balls and two 30+ contributions by Mahmudullah and Asela Gunaratne while no other batsman could manage double-digit runs. In reply, Royals were again in trouble losing 3 wickets in powerplay and kept losing wickets in regular interval. At the end of the 15th over they could manage only 89 runs while the still need 76 runs in last 5 overs. But Andre Russell held his nerves and scored a quickfire 54* runs of 22 balls to bring the win for his team by 2 wickets with 4 balls to spare and Rajshahi sealed their berth in the Final for the second time.
Report
Rajshahi Royals innings
Khulna Tiger winning the toss, sent Rajshahi Royals to bat first. Opener Afif Hossain got out cheaply but Liton Das along with Irfan Sukkur made a fifty-plus partnership while the latter scored 52 off 35 balls before being out though two quick wickets of Shoaib Malik and Sukkur did not bother much to the Royal. At the end, Mohammad Nawaz's quickfire 41 off 20 and skipper Andre Russell's 27 off 16 balls give the Royals a respectable total of 170 runs losing 4 wickets.
Khulna Tigers innings
In reply, Nazmul Hossain Shanto got out on the second ball of the innings and both the opener got out so cheaply. Shamsur Rahman and Rilee Rossouw tried to recover from the situation with a 74 runs partnership for the third wicket while the former scored 52 off 43 balls. After the fall of Rossouw, Royals kept on losing wickets on regular interval. Tigers skipper Mushfiqur Rahim could only manage 21 off 15 balls before being bowled by his counterparts. Their tail-enders also failed as Tigers could manage 149 runs losing 8 wickets in their 20 overs resulting in Rajshahi Royals winning by 21 runs.
Summary
, skipper of Rajshahi Royals received the Man of the Match award for his all-round performance as he scored 27 off 16 balls and chipped in with 2 wickets for 32 runs in his 4 overs. Russell also received the Player of the Tournament award for his all-round performances as he gathered 225 runs in 12 innings with an average of 56.25 and picked up 14 wickets in 12 innings as well as leading his side for their maiden BPL title.
