Comilla beat Rangpur as Gayle, McCullum fail to entertain
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Dhaka: Comilla Victorians smartly beat Rangpur Riders by 14 runs in their 5th match of the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) Cricket at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Mirpur on Saturday denying the craze of Chris Gayle and McCullum.
With the day's feat, Comilla Victorians advanced to the 2nd slot in the seven-team league securing eight points from five matches while Dhaka Dynamites topped the list with nine points from six matches.
Chasing a moderate target of 154 runs, national ODI captain Mashrafe Bin Mortaza led-Rangpur Riders were forced to close their innings at 139 for 7 in stipulated 20 overs with frustrating performance of world famed T20 specialist-- Chris Gayle and McCullum.
Rangpur Riders faced an early batting jolt losing the top four vital wickets cheaply for 32 in 5.3 balls, four wickets in span of only seven balls, including the wickets of world famous T20 batting duo Chris Gayle and Brendon McCullum.
The Afghan leg-break googly bowler Rashid Khan and local right-arm off break bowler Mahedi Hasan made major damage in Rangpur innings claiming the key wickets of Chris gayle, McCullum, Kusal Perara and Shahriar Nafees a in span of only seven balls conceding only one runs from 31 for 1 to 32 for 4 wickets.
West Indian T20 batting sensation Chris Gayle went back to the dressing room first with the frustration of huge home crowd as he trapped lbw by Afghan spinner Rashid Khan scoring only 17 runs off 13 balls with three fours when scorecard showing 31 for 1 in 4.2 overs.
Rashid Khan grabbed his 2nd wicket in the 4th ball of the same over dismissing Sri Lanka Kusal Perera for a duck facing two balls. Kusal was caught by Mahedi Hasan leaving team total 31 for 2 in 4.4 overs.
Mahedi Hasan then picked up two quick wickets, dismissing New Zealand batsman McCullum in the first ball of the 6th over and Shahriar Nafees in the 3rd ball of the same over leaving team total 32 for 4 in 5.3 overs. Hasan was adjudged man of the match for his two wickets haul conceding 15 runs
Opening batsman McCullum made 14-ball 13 runs with one four and six before he was stumped by Liton Das while two down Shahriar Nafees was clean bowled by Mahedi Hasan for a duck playing three balls.
Later, Robi Borapa pairing Mohammad Mithun fought hard for the survival of Rangpur Riders scoring 67th runs in the 5th wicket stand but failed to overcame the early lapses.
Number six batsman Ravi Bopara hammered an unbeaten run a ball 48 hitting five fours, number five Mohammad Mithun scored 26-ball 31 runs while captain Mashrafe made 11-ball 17 runs, but its not enough for the team victory.
Mahedi Hasan and Rashid Khan grabbed two wicket each conceding 15 and 19 runs while Al Am,in Hossain and Hasan Ali took one wicket each.
Earlier, Comilla Victorians scored 153 for 6 in their 6th match of the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) Cricket against Rangpur Riders.
Sent in to bat first, Comilla Victorians faced initial batting collapse losing three top wickets of national opener Tamim Iqbal (21), Liton Das (11) and Jos Buttler (1) for 55 runs in 8.2 overs, but one down Imrul Kayes pairing with West Indian Marlon Samuels carried the team in a respectable position contributing 45 runs in the 4th wicket stand.
Top order national batsman Imrul Kayes contributed the team highest 47 runs off 32 balls with four fours and two sixes while number five batsman Marlon Samuels scored 34-ball 41 runs featuring four boundaries and one over boundary.
Besides, lower order batsman Mohammad Saifuddin made an unbeaten 16 runs off 11 balls hitting one four and a six while Pakistani all rounder Shoaib Malik scored eight-ball nine runs, were the other main scorers for Comilla Victorians.
Rangpur Riders one-day national captain Mashrafe Bin Mortaza and Sri Lankan Thisara Perera grabbed two wickets each conceding 22 and 26 runs respectively while pacer Rubel Hossain took one for 45 runs.