Riders crush Victorians in one-sided affair

Defending champions Rangpur Riders crushed Comilla Victorians by 9 wickets in their 3rd match of Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Dhaka on Tuesday, reports UNB.

After losing the first match to Chittagong Vikings by three wickets, Mashrafe Mortaza-led Riders strongly bounced back in the second match beating Khulna Titans by eight runs.

Now they are in the second spot securing four points from three outings.

Sent in to bat first in the day's second match, Victorians were bundled out cheaply for 63 runs in 16.2 overs, thanks to Mashrafe’s career best bowling in T20s.

The Riders skipper picked up four wickets for 11 runs in his four overs. This is also his first four-wicket haul in the BPL. He surpassed his previous best bowling in the BPL of three wickets for 16 runs.

Comilla were struggling from the very beginning of their innings losing five wickets for just 18 runs with Mashrafe making damage. Comilla's 63 runs is their lowest total and overall 4th lowest first-innings total in the history of BPL.

Shahid Afridi, the Pakistani super-star, rescued them from a bigger shame scoring 25 off 18 with three 4s and one 6.

Apart from Mashrafe, Shafiul Islam and Nazmul Islam Apu grabbed three wickets for 20 while Shafiul Islam took two wickets for 8 runs.

Riders chased down the target scoring 67 runs in 12 overs losing only one wicket of batting sensation Chris Gayle (1). Rilee Rossouw and Mehedi Marul remained unbeaten on 20 and 36 respectively.

Abu Hider took the lone wicket conceding 11 runs.

Rangpur will play their next match against Dhaka Dynamites on 11 January at 2:00pm and on the same day, Comill will face Rajshahi Kings at 7:00pm. Both the matches will be held at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium.