Rangpur Riders secured a vital win against home side Sylhet Sixers in their BPL 6 match at Sylhet International Cricket Stadium Saturday.
How the action unfolded
Sylhet posted a challenging total of 194 losing just four wickets in their stipulated 20 overs.
Opener Sabbir Rahman scored a magnificent 85 off just 51 balls, while Nicholas Pooran provided a good finish to the innings with a 47-run innings of 27 balls.
However, Sixers skipper, Australian David Warner, who was playing his last match for Sylhet this season, scored just 19 consuming 21 deliveries.
Chasing the big score, Rangpur lost Chris Gayle (nought) in the second ball of the innings but Sixers’ sloppy fielding helped them to maintain the asking run rate.
The game changers
In-form Rilee Rossouw scored 61, AB de Villiers made 34 while Alex Hales scored 33 to keep their hope alive before Farhad Reza played a whirlwind cameo of 18 off six balls to navigate the side home.
KEY MOMENTS
Sabbir dominant at the top
Sabbir lit up the first innings with a superb knock, comprising five fours and half a dozen sixes.
The right-hander batted confidently and played some magnificent strokes all around the park.
The innings was important for him to get back some confidence, and also return to national team contention when his ban term expires.
Gayle fails again
West Indies explosive opener Gayle is having a poor BPL so far for the Riders as the big man failed again against Sylhet during the crucial run chase.
The left-hander was caught at point for a duck off the second ball he faced.
Gayle has scored seven, 23, eight and one in his last four innings for the Riders before the Sylhet match.
So many missed chances by Sixers
Sylhet fielders had a tough time in the field as they missed four catches and one run out chance.
Rossouw was lucky four times, with three dropped catches and the reprieve with the missed run out.
Sixers wicket-keeper Jaker Ali grassed two catches, while Pooran and Warner dropped one each.
Two of them were dropped off Taskin Ahmed’s bowling, while the other two were grassed off Sandeep Lamichhane’s leg-spin.
Taskin dismisses Rossouw, De Villiers in same over
Rangpur were going along nicely while chasing 195 as Rossouw and De Villiers were going strong with their partnership, and required 65 from 42 balls at one stage.
Taskin came on to bowl the 14th over, and got the wicket of Rossouw off the first delivery.
And more importantly, Taskin cleaned up De Villiers off the last ball of the same over.
Those two wickets from Taskin got the Sixers back into the game after some sloppy fielding.
Reza hero this time
Rangpur all-rounder Farhad Reza was criticised a few days ago when he failed to connect five balls in the last over, and the Riders failed to take nine runs in the final over, despite a set Rossouw batting at the other end.
But this time, Reza became the hero as he played a brilliant little cameo to clinch a vital win for the Riders.
Twenty four runs were needed in the last two overs, and Mehedi Hasan Rana came on to bowl the 19th over.
Reza struck a boundary off the first ball he faced, then took two before smashing a six in the last ball of the over.
Sylhet conceded 19 runs in that over.
In the last over, skipper Mashrafe bin Mortaza took single off the first delivery and Reza hit the winning boundary off the third ball to secure victory.
Reza scored 18 off six balls with two fours and a six, and ensured the win for Rangpur.
What this result means
Rangpur have six points from seven matches and will play Khulna Titans Tuesday.
Sylhet have four points from the same number of outings as Rangpur, and will also play Khulna Wednesday.
21ST MATCH, RRvSS
SYLHET SIXERS INNINGS R B
Liton c Farhad b Mashrafe 11 8
Sabbir c Rossouw b Shafiul 85 51
Afif run out (Rossouw) 19 11
Warner c Hales b Mashrafe 19 21
Pooran not out 47 27
Jaker not out 5 2
Extras (b 1, w 7) 8
Total (20 Overs) 194/4
Fall Of Wickets
1-13 (Liton), 2-52 (Afif), 3-103 (Warner), 4-185 (Sabbir)
Bowling
Nazmul 2-0-18-0, Mashrafe 4-0-31-2, Shafiul 4-0-43-1, Farhad 3-0-35-0, Nahidul 2-0-16-0, Gazi 2-0-16-0, Gayle 3-0-34-0
RANGPUR RIDERS INNINGS R B
Gayle c Sabbir b Irfan 0 2
Hales c Liton b Kapali 33 24
Rossouw c Liton b Taskin 61 35
De Villiers b Taskin 34 21
Mithun c Warner b Taskin 14 10
Nahidul b Taskin 19 16
Mashrafe not out 5 3
Farhad not out 18 6
Extras (b 1, lb 6, w 4) 11
Total (19.3 Overs) 195/6
Fall Of Wickets
1-0 (Gayle), 2-63 (Hales), 3-130 (Rossouw), 4-137 (De Villiers), 5-171 (Mithun), 6-171 (Nahidul)
Bowling
Irfan 4-0-34-1, Taskin 4-0-42-4, Lamichhane 4-0-21-0, Rana 4-0-57-0, Kapali 3.3-0-34-1
Rangpur Riders won by four wickets
MoM: Rilee Rossouw (RR)
