Rangpur Riders breezed past defending Champions Comilla Victorians in their opening match of the ninth edition of the Bangladesh Premier League as they won by 34 runs.
A brilliant blistering knock from Rony Talukder, who scored 67 runs off 31 balls, up top helped Rangpur post 176-5 on the board.
In reply, Comilla never really got going albeit skipper Imrul Kayes tried for some time in the middle as they were bowled out for 142 with five balls to spare.
They lost Liton Das early in the chase, and besides Imrul’s 35 off 23 balls, no other batter crossed 20 as they stumbled all along the way.
For Rangpur, Hasan Mahmud picked up three wickets, while Sikandar Raza and Rabiul Haque picked up two each.
Earlier, Comilla skipper Imrul Kayes won the toss and opted to field first, and Rony went all guns blazing from the start.
Due to his fierce hitting, Rangpur scored 64 in the powerplay, with Rony reaching his fifty within the sixth over.
Rony became the fastest Bangladeshi to score a fifty in BPL as he took only 19 balls to reach there. Overall, it was the fourth-quickest in BPL history. His innings consisted of 11 fours and a six.
Rony was stumped in the ninth over on 67 off Khushdil Shah’s bowling.
After the powerplay, their run rate stagnated as Mohammad Naim, the other opener, could not score at a good pace and was finally dismissed for 29 off 34 balls.
Veteran Shoaib Malik scored 33 off 26 balls before getting run out courtesy of a mixup between him and skipper Nurul Hasan Sohan which left them both stranded at the same end.
Nurul stayed unbeaten till the end as he scored 19 off 11 balls.
For Comilla, Mustafizur Rahman, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Khushdil, and Mosaddek Hossain picked a wicket each.
