In an eventful match, that saw a blistering spell of Taskin Ahmed and a nasty on-field tussle between Shuvashis Roy and Mashrafe Bin Mortaza, Chittagong Vikings prevailed in with 11 runs against Rangpur Riders to register their first victory in the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) T20 yesterday at Sylhet International Cricket Stadium.
From a marauding start to meek finish-- Chittagong Vikings tasted the similar fate of the first match but this time, Taskin saved them from the ultimate blushes in a hostile two overs spell, triggering the collapse of Riders’ who were on course of their second straight victory.
Leaving their fate at stake, Vikings however were restricted to 166 for four, from a strong position of 100 for two in just nine overs. Riders smoothly went towards the target until Taskin interrupted the proceedings with a double strike and inflicted a run-out in three consecutive deliveries, reducing them to 105 for three to six at the same score. Rangpur Riders never recovered the blow and eventually strangled at 155 for eight in their 20 –over allocation.
Like the first match, Vikings New Zealand recruit Luke Ronchi came up all guns blazing yet again, hitting sixes at will around the park to give the side a high flying start. He registered the second fastest BPL half-century, bringing it up off 19 balls and helped the side reach 50 runs in just 3.3 overs, the fastest team half-century in BPL.
As he reached 50 runs with three fours and four sixes, his fellow opener Soumya Sarkar was at just 3. To match with Ronchi’s attacking mindset, Soumya threw away his wicket to a Mashrafe Bin Mortaza delivery. It mattered little as the run-flow continued with Ronchi looking set to bring up fastest century of the BPL. That was not to be as the cunning slower of Ravi Bopara forced him to top-edge a delivery to long-on. Ronchi eventually smashed seven sixes and as many fours in his 35 ball-78.
As has been the case, no one could stand tall towards the end after Ronchi was dismissed in the ninth over, leaving the score 99 for two. Chittagong could score just 66 runs in the last 11 overs as the next best was skipper Misbah-ul-Haque 31 not out that came off 32 balls. This score is still little better considering Chittagong amassed 143 for seven from 91 for one in 10 overs in the first match against Comilla Victorians.
Despite losing openers Johnson Charles and Ziaur Rahman for 20 in first two overs, Rangpur were on course thanks to Ravi Bopara and Mithun Ali who revived the innings with 36 runs partnership. Mithun was dismissed on 21, but Bopara kept the side in track alongside Shahriar Nafees (26) before Taskin shattered their hopes.
As Rangpur were in tumultuous situation following a burst of Taskin who also inflicted run-out to Bopara (38) on his hattrick-delivery, there came the tussle between Shuvashis Roy and Mashrafe Bin Mortaza. Bangladesh ODI skipper was seen telling something to Roy to which he showed an angry reaction and it reached such a position that umpire Sharfuddowla Ibn Shahid Saikat had to intervene. Mashrafe was seen left to speechless at the outcome of the matter while Roy’s anger continued for some minutes as he was seen muttering even in every delivery of that over to Mashrafe. Taskin however returned figures of three for 31 to be adjudged man of the match.