Bangladesh batsman Mushfiqur Rahim played a swashbuckling 75-run innings to help his side Chittagong Vikings to victory against Comilla Victorians in their Bangladesh Premier League match Sunday in Mirpur’s Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium.
Mushfiq struck seven fours and five sixes in his 41-ball innings, which is highest by a Bangladeshi in this BPL edition, to help his side reach 186/6 in reply to the Victorians’ 184/5.
This is the Vikings’ third win in four matches.
With this victory, the Vikings are currently at second position in the points table with six points, two short of unbeaten Dhaka Dynamites.
Mohammad Shahzad and Cameron Delport made a good start for the Vikings before the latter got out for 13.
With two more wickets in quick succession, the Victorians halted the progress, especially the fall of Shahzad, who made 46 off 27 balls, to leave the Vikings in a precarious position of 70/3 in the ninth over.
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But the experienced Mushfiq assessed the situation and did not panic with the increasing asking rate.
At one stage, the required rate reached 11.5 as the Vikings needed 92 off 48 balls.
Mushfiq decided to take on Sri Lankan pacer Thisara Perera and scored six in the first ball, before scoring three consecutive fours in the same over to bring back parity.
Najibullah Zadran was dismissed in the next over for 13, but Mosaddek Hossain gave Mushfiq good support, making a run-a-ball 12 in their 44-run fifth-wicket stand.
Saifuddin got rid of Mosaddek in the first ball of the 19th over, but bowled two no-balls in that over that was completely utilised by Mushfiq.
The diminutive batsman scored 17 runs off the next four balls, and though he perished in the final ball of the over, caught at the boundary line, he left his side an easy equation of seven from six balls.
Points Table of UCB Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) 6th Edition - 2019.
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Robbie Frylinck struck a huge six off the third ball of the final over to navigate his side home.
Earlier, Victorians opener Tamim Iqbal got out for a duck in the second ball after the Vikings invited them to bat.
Another opener Evin Lewis made 38 off 34 before retiring hurt, but the Victorians middle-order failed to maintain the run flow as they were reduced to 86/5 in the 14th over.
But Perera showed same rearguard action as he played a whirlwind innings of 74 off just 26 balls to help the Victorians put up a decent total on the board.
He struck three fours and eight sixes in his unbeaten innings that had a strike rate of 284.61.
Ironically, Mushfiq counter-attacked Perera in the chase to throw his batting heroics in vain.
With the match the initial Dhaka phase of BPL is finished as the carnival will resume in Sylhet Tuesday.
14TH MATCH, CHVvCV
COMILLA VICTORIANS INNINGS R B
Tamim c Shahzad b Frylinck 0 2
Lewis retired hurt 38 34
Anamul c Frylinck b Jayed 10 10
Imrul b Khaled 24 21
Dawson b Khaled 2 4
Afridi hit wicket b Khaled 2 4
Saifuddin not out 26 19
Perera not out 74 26
Extras (b 1, lb 1, w 6) 8
Total (20 Overs) 184/5
Fall Of Wickets
1-0 (Tamim), 2-21 (Anamul), 3-75 (Imrul), 4-77 (Dawson), 5-86 (Afridi)
Bowling
Frylinck 4-1-49-1, Nayeem 4-0-20-0, Jayed 4-0-41-1, Khaled 4-0-34-3, Mosaddek 2-0-13-0, Sanjamul 2-0-25-0
CHITTAGONG VIKINGS INNINGS R B
Shahzad c Dawson b Afridi 46 27
Delport c Tamim b Saifuddin 13 11
Yasir lbw b Perera 4 8
Mushfiq c Tamim b Saifuddin 75 41
Zadran c Tamim b Mahedi 13 15
Mosaddek c Afridi b Saifuddin 12 12
Frylinck not out 9 5
Nayeem not out 1 1
Extras (lb 4, nb 2, w 7) 13
Total (19.4 Overs) 186/6
Fall Of Wickets
1-58 (Delport), 2-64 (Yasir), 3-70 (Shahzad), 4-117 (Zadran), 5-161 (Mosaddek), 6-178 (Mushfiq)
Bowling
Haider 3-0-30-0, Mahedi 4-0-30-1, Saifuddin 4-0-45-3, Dawson 2.4-0-34-0, Afridi 4-0-15-1, Perera 2-0-28-1
Chittagong Vikings won by four wickets
MoM: Mushfiqur Rahim (CHV)
