Rangpur Riders registered an eight-wicket win over Fortune Barishal in the Bangladesh Premier League match at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium on Thursday.
Saif Hassan’s unbeaten 62 off 46 balls, and Alex Hales’ 49 guided them to chase a below-par target with 30 balls to spare.
Barishal made a promising start, riding on 28 off 18 by Tamim Iqbal. But they were quickly off guard in front of the quality attack of Rangpur. They faltered under consistent pressure.
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Mushfiqur Rahim and Mohammad Nabi contributed with 15 and 21, but those were not enough for them to stabilize the innings and pose a strong challenge to Rangpur. They were bolwed out for 124 in 18.2 overs.
Khushdil Shah took three wickets for 18 for Rangpur. Nahid Rana and Iftikhar Ahmed took two wickets each.
Rangpur rocked early as they lost quick two wickets while chasing as Azizul Hakim and Tawfique Khan were dismissed cheaply.
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But Saif and Alex were firm in the middle in the third wicket stand.
In his unbeaten knock, Saif smashed six fours and three sixes. Hales scored 49 off 41 balls, with three sixes. They added 113 runs in the third wicket stand to seal the match for Rangpur.
Iqbal Hossain Emon scalped both the wickets for Barishal.