Rangpur Riders made it three in three in the ongoing Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) as they beat defending champions Fortune Barishal by 8 wickets at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium on Thursday.
Rangpur comfortably chased down 125 set by Barishal courtesy of Saif Hassan and Alex Hales. They had 5 overs in hand when they reached the victory line, reports The Daily Sun.
The duo added an unbeaten 113 runs for the third wicket to take their team home after early scare.
Rangpur lost two quick wickets and were reduced to 15/2 early in their chase losing Azizul Hakim Tamim, who made his BPL debut on the day, along with Tawfique Khan Tushar in the second over bowled by Iqbal Hossain Emon, who also made his BPL debut on Thursday.
Tamim had a debut to forget as he was dismissed for a golden duck to his U-19 teammate Emon.
But Saif and Hales stood firm and started scoring runs at ease. Saif was the prime aggressor even though Hales was at the crease.
Saif made an unbeaten 62 off 46 balls hitting six boundaries and three maximums while Hales scored 49 from 41 balls hitting four boundaries and three maximums.
Mushfiqur Rahim had to leave the field injured in the second over after sustaining an injury.
Earlier after opting to bowl first, Rangpur bundled Barishal out for 124 thanks to a proper team effort from the bowlers.
Khushdil Shah was the star of the bowling unit with three wickets to his name. Nahid Rana had yet another successful outing bowling the two experienced campaigners - Tamim Iqbal and Mahmudullah - out on the day.
Iftikhar Ahmed too bagged a brace while Mahedi Hasan and Akif Javed picked up a wicket each.
For Barishal, skipper Tamim Iqbal was the top scorer with 28 to his name. Mohammad Nabi played a fighting 21-run innings to take the team total beyond 120 but that was never going to be enough.
Rangpur now top the table with three wins from three matches. Their next match will be against Sylhet Strikers at the Sylhet International Cricket Stadium on Monday.
Bd-pratidin English/Lutful Hoque
