Rangpur Crush Sylhet, Climb Up Top Spot in BPL
Rangpur Riders climbed up at the top spot of the seven team point table after crushing Sylhet Strikers by 77 runs in their sixth match of the ongoing Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) 2024 at the Sylhet International Cricket Stadium on Saturday night.
Khulna Tigers and Chattogram Challengers also have the same eight points but Rangpur leapfrogged them for having a better net run rate (+1.203).
Rangpur’s Babar Azam proved his worth again as he struck 47 off 37 balls while skipper Nurul Hasan Sohan scored 30-ball 46 runs to help the side post 162-7 in the regulated 20 overs after they were sent into bat first.
Among others, Rangpur’s Afghan recruit Azmatullah Omarzai’s 14-ball 22 and Shamim Hossain’s late cameo of unbeaten 10 off six deliveries.
Rangpur lost opener Brandon King (one) in the second over before Babar and Fazle Mahmud (14) shared a 51-run stand for the second wicket.
Harry removed Fazle and Shakib (0) in successive deliveries before Babar was trapped in front by Samit.
Nurul played a captain’s knock since the dismissal of Babar while the lower middle-order batters also made good contributions that helped Rangpur to post a 160-plus total.
In reply, the hosts lost their opener Harry Tector (six) in the first over of Azmatullah. Then, off-spinner Mahedi Hasan sent back Najmul Hossain Shanto (one) and Zakir Hasan (four) left the hosts struggling at 14-3.
Rangpur’s star all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan then removed Sylhet skipper Mohammad Mithun (one) in his first over before he sent back Samit Patel (11) in his next over.
Despite Ryan Burl’s 43 off 32 balls, Sylhet were all out for 85 runs in 16.5 overs.
Mahedi and Mohammad Nabi took three wickets each for Rangpur.
With this defeat, Sylhet’s qualification chance for the playoffs is all but over as they have collected only two points from their seven games.
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