Rangpur down helpless Chattogram with ease

Rangpur Riders bounced back from two consecutive defeats as they found a comfortable victory in the ongoing ninth edition of the Bangladesh Premier League on Monday beating a hapless Chattogram Challengers by 55 runs.

This win took Rangpur to third in the table with six points from six matches, while Chattogram are now languishing at second bottom with only four points from seven games.

Rangpur’s Shoaib Malik stole the show on Monday as he picked up the player of the match award with his brilliant unbeaten innings of 75 runs from 45 balls, hitting five fours and five sixes.

He was aptly helped by Azmatullah Omarzai, who scored 42 off just 24 balls, meaning their partnership of 105 runs for the fourth wicket helped Rangpur put 179-6 on the scoreboard.

In reply, Chattogram were struck early by the loss of Afif Hossain as the batter was down with sickness and could not bat, meaning the mainstay of their middle-order was already lost before they started their chase of 180. The left-handed batter was down with cold and felt nauseous, which led him to leaving the field for hotel during the match.

Their skipper Shuvagata Hom tried his best as he scored 52 off 31 balls, but without any long-lasting support from his teammates, Chattogram fell well short to get bowled out for 124.

After the match, the Chattogram skipper blamed their poor start in their chase for their defeat.

“The wicket was good. We could not do well in the powerplay and lost three wickets. That put us on the back foot. If we could have started well, it could have been a different result,” he said.

Rakibul Hasan, the Rangpur left-arm spinner who picked up two wickets in the match, praised his team for the victory.

“We needed this win after two consecutive defeats. This was a good team effort. The batters did well after losing early wickets. The bowlers started well. We will try to keep up this winning momentum in the coming matches,” he said.

Earlier, batting first, Rangpur lost Shak Mahedi Hasan (1) in the first over and Parvez Hossain Emon (6) within the powerplay to Shuvagata Hom, and then Mohammad Naim (34) in the ninth over to leg-spinner Vijayakanth Viyaskanth.

But from there, Malik and Omarzai put together a solid stand, and 106 runs in the last eight overs took them to 179-6.

Both teams will take the field again on January 27 in Sylhet, with Rangpur facing Sylhet Strikers and Chattogram taking on Fortune Barishal.