Sabbir, Pooran fire Sixers to imposing total

Sylhet Sixers’ batsman Sabbir Rahman plays a shot in the match against Rangpur Riders at Sylhet International Stadium on 19 January. Photo: Prothom Alo
Sylhet Sixers’ batsman Sabbir Rahman plays a shot in the match against Rangpur Riders at Sylhet International Stadium on 19 January. Photo: Prothom Alo

Blazing Sabbir Rahman led the Sylhet Sixers to an imposing total of 194 at the loss of four wickets in their 20 overs against Rangpur Riders in the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) match on Saturday.

Sabbir hit 85 off 51 with the help of five 4s and six 6s after the Riders skipper Mashrafe invited them to bat first at Sylhet International Stadium.

Sixers’ West Indies recruit Nicholas Pooran played a hefty innings of 47 off 27 balls. He hit four 4s and three 6s.

Sylhet, however, had a relatively bad start as they lost Liton Das (11 off 8) as the first wicket in the ball of Mashrafe Mortaza in the second over of the match.

The Riders captain picked up two wickets while Shafiul Islam took one wicket. Afif Hossain ran himself out.

This is going to be the last match for Sixers captain David Warner in the Sylhet-leg of the BPL as he will return to Australia due to an injury.

Riders’ have strengthened their batting line-up as their South African recruit AB de Villiers joined the team and has been playing for the side.

Earlier, Sixers had beaten Rangpur by 27 runs in their last outing just three days ago.

Teams:

Sylhet Sixers: Liton Das, Sabbir Rahman, Afif Hossain, David Warner (capt), Nicholas Pooran, Jaker Ali (wk), Alok Kapali, Taskin Ahmed, Mehedi Hasan Rana, Sandeep Lamichhane, Mohammad Irfan

Rangpur Riders: Chris Gayle, Alex Hales, AB de Villiers, Rilee Rossouw, Mohammad Mithun (wk), Mashrafe Mortaza (capt), Nazmul Hasan, Nahidul Islam, Farhad Reza, Shafiul Islam, Sohag Gazi