Rangpur End BPL Group Phase With Defeat Against Comilla

Table toppers Rangpur Riders, who already booked their place in the first playoff, ended the group phase with a 6-wicket defeat against Comilla Victorians in their Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) match at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chattogram on Tuesday night.

The defeat also ended Rangpur’s eight-match winning streak, who collected a total of 18 points from 9 wins and 3 defeats.  

Holder Comilla showed a great bowling performance as Musfik Hasan and Andre Russell took three wickets each while Matthew Forde claimed two wickets to bowled out Rangpur for 150 runs in 19.5 overs.

Rangpur’s New Zealand all-rounder Jimmy Neesham struck an unbeaten 69 off 42 balls to give their innings some modesty after they were once restricted to 107-9 in the 17th over.

Rangpur star Shakib Al Hasan scored 24 runs and Rony Talukdar added 14 runs respectively while the rest of other batters demonstrated a vulnerable batting effort. 

In response, Comilla scored 36 runs in the first four overs before Shakib Al Hasan (3-20) removed Sunil Narine (15) and Tawhid Hridoy (0) within three deliveries of his first over.

But captain Liton Das and Mahidul Islam Ankon made 43 and 39 runs respectively to take Comilla close to the victory. 

Russell then smashed an unbeaten 43 off 12 balls to score Comilla to 151-4 in 17.4 overs and to complete their eighth win out of 11 matches and ensure a top two finish in the league stage.

Meanwhile, Rangpur will face the same opponents Camilla in the first qualifier on 26 February at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur, but before the contest, Comilla will face Fortune Barishal in their last league match in Mirpur on 23 February.