Miraz goes all round

Fortune Barishal’s all-rouner Mehedy Hasan Miraz goes all-round to help his side triumph over Rangpur Riders to get their first win in the BPL 2023 as he outplayed Riders both with the bat and with the ball at The Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Dhaka on Tuesday.

Miraz scored 43 off just 29 balls with an impressive strike rate of 148.28 hitting five boundaries in the process. He was impressive with the ball as well, as he took two wickets giving away only 21 runs in his four overs with an economy rate of 5.20, he also took the important wicket of Rider’s skipper Nurul Hasan.

Winning the toss Fortune Barishal’s skipper Shakib Al Hasan sent the riders to bat first where the skipper himself led the bowling attack as he took the wicket of Rider’s opener Mohammad Naim in the very first ball of the innings. Later Barishal’s bowling attack restricted the Riders on 158-7. Miraz was second most economical bowler in the innings.

While chasing Rider’s 158, Barishal lost both their openers within the fourth over when Miraz with Ibrahim Zadran took over control of the game and never let the required run rate go out of reach as they were constantly hitting boundaries while rotating the strike.

The duo scored more than 80 runs together in their partnership which helped their side to chase down Rider’s target. Zadran scored fifty in his debut match in the BPL.

The 25-year-old was awarded the man of the match for his all-round performance. He said, “the wicket was very good, that helped a lot. I always enjoy batting at the top”.

Miraz was given captaincy over Bangladesh national team skipper Shakib in the first match which raised questions, but in the second match Shakib was made captain again. He led Barishal to the finals last year.