Comilla Victorians 176 for 3 (Charles 79*, Litton 55, Rubel 2-39) beat Sylhet Strikers 175 for 7 (Mushfiqur 74*, Shanto 64, Mustafizur 2-31) by seven wickets

It was the fourth title for Victorians coach Mohammad Salahuddin, who is rapidly acquiring legendary status in Bangladesh. Victorians were woeful in the field, but their superstar batting line-up took them over the line.

A manic start
Shanto and Towhid Hridoy ran four off the first ball of the match after an overthrow from Mukidul Islam, who tried to run the non-striker Hridoy out. Two balls later, Shanto struck back-to-back fours before Tanvir Islam's overthrow off the final delivery of the over gave Strikers five runs. If all this was not enough, Tanvir then removed Hridoy first ball of the second over.

Strikers' captain Mashrafe Mortaza promoted himself to No. 3 for the third game in a row, with the move now appearing less surprising. But he fell cheaply to Andre Russell, as Strikers couldn't quite capitalise on an otherwise good start. Victorians further contributed to the mess when Sunil Narine let the ball through his legs at short third in the fourth over to allow four to Shanto.

Shanto, Mushfiqur propel Strikers
Only three of Strikers batters got into double figures. Those included knocks of 74* and 64 from Mushfiqur and Shanto, respectively. In the process, Shanto became the first Bangladesh player to reach 500 runs in a BPL season.

Shanto provided the initial thrust despite the mayhem at the other end, hitting the ball cleanly over the 30-yard circle in the powerplay against both pace and spin. He added 79 for the third wicket with Mushfiqur before being bowled by Moeen Ali. But Mushfiqur soldiered on with an unbeaten 74, hitting Russell for a fine six - his third of the innings - in the final over.

Dropped catches and brain fades
Apart from overthrows and misfields, the Victorians fielders dropped as many as six catches. Mustafizur Rahman dropped two of those, the first a tough one at short fine leg when Shanto was on 29. But his second, that of Ryan Burl when the batter was on 1, was a howler. He misjudged a simple skier so poorly that the ball nearly hit his head.

Imrul Kayes also dropped Shanto on 37, a simple catch at midwicket, which the Victorians captain made a mess of. Moeen and Litton then dropped George Linde in successive balls at long-on and long-off, respectively; but eventually, it was Litton who took the catch to dismiss Linde for 9 in the 18th over. What followed on the final delivery of the innings was another brain fade: Litton caught Mushfiqur and under-armed the ball back towards the pitch, only to suddenly realise that the ball was actually a free hit.

Litton makes up for fielding errors
Opening the batting in the run chase, Litton provided Victorians with the quick start which they needed, particularly when their pinch-hitter Narine fell in the third over. Litton mixed aggression on the leg side with deft touches through gaps on the off side.

Litton struck 55 off 39 balls - with seven fours and a six - and got out to a great catch by Shanto, who ran and dived forward from deep backward square leg after Litton had mistimed a pull. That was his third fifty this season, which he finished with 379 runs - the most by a Victorians batter - thus warming up in style ahead of a first IPL stint, having been picked by Kolkata Knight Riders.

Full report to follow...