Liton, Rizwan end Comilla’s winless streak

Defending champions Comilla Victorians finally secured their first win in the ninth Bangladesh Premier League (BPL), defeating Chattogram Challengers by six wickets at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chattogram on Monday.

Liton Das set up the chase with a fluent 40 off 22 balls on a pitch where almost every batter struggled to time the ball.

Liton hit four fours and three sixes in his brief but affective innings, which ended when Mrittunjoy Chowdhury’s yorker went through his defenses.

After Liton’s dismissal, his opening partner Mohammad Rizwan took upon the responsibility to see the team home.

The Pakistani wicketkeeper-batsman batted till the end and remained unbeaten on 37 off 35 balls to take Comilla to 137-4 in 17.3 overs.

Jaker Ali and skipper Imrul Kayes also chipped in with 22 and 15 runs respectively to secure Comilla’s first win after three consecutive loses.

Earlier, skipper Shuvagata Hom’s fighting 37 off 23 balls took Chattogram to 135-8 after opting to bat first.

Shuvagata’s unbeaten knock, which was adorned with four fours and a six, dragged Chattogram to a somewhat respectable total after they were reduced to 78-6 inside14 overs.

After a 43-run second wicket partnership between Afif Hossain (29 off 21 balls) and Max O’Dowd (25 off 21 balls), Chattogram innings lost its way, losing five wickets for 33 runs.

However, some lusty blows from Shuvagata and an eight-ball 13 from Mehedi Hasan Rana made sure Chattogram scored 46 runs in the last four overs.

Mosaddek Hossain, Tanvir Islam and Khushdil Shah took two wickets each for Comilla.

With this win, Comilla registered their first points in the competition and moved up to fifth position in the seven-team points-table.

Chattogram remained at fourth place with two wins and three loses.