Dhaka: Defending champions Rangpur Riders tasted the maiden win in their 2nd match of Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) beating Khulna Titans by eight runs at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium here on Sunday. 

South African Rilee Rossouw, who played an anchoring role in Riders’ good collection of 169 with an impressive not out 76 off 52 balls featuring eight fours and two sixes, was adjudged the man of the match, reports the UNB.

Later, Riders bowlers defended the total restricting Titans to 161 for 5 in 20 overs.

In reply, Junaid Siddique and Paul Stirling gave Khulna an edge to the victory.

But after breaking the opening stand, Khulna failed to carry the momentum to an expected finish. They lost Paul, Junaid and Nazmul Hossain Shanto in a span of 18 runs. Junaid fell after scoring 33 and Nazmul Hossain Shanto, the left-handed batsman, failed to impress as he added one run only.

Paul Stirling was trying to propel the Titans to the win, but he failed at 61 when he was beaten by the pace of Mashrafe Bin Mortaza. The Irish batsman tried to use the turning to leg, but he missed the ball that splattered his stump.

Mahmudullah tried to lead the ship while posting 24 off 17 balls but his effort proved not to be enough to avoid the first-match defeat for Khulna. They eventually finished the innings scoring 161 that resulted in a defeat by eight runs.

Shaiful Islam, the right-arm pacer, took two wickets for the Riders and Mashrafe, Farhad Reza and Benny Howell bagged one wicket each.

Earlier, South African cricketer Rilee Rossouw scored a half-century to take defending champions Rangpur Riders to 169 runs for 3 in their second match of this year’s BPL.

Rilee and Mehedi Maruf added 18 runs in the opening stand for the Riders. Mehedi failed to impress with the bat as he fell for five while facing Ali Khan, the only USA representative in the BPL.

Alex Hales and Mohammad Mithun added 15 and 19 respectively. Alex fell prey to Zahir Khan, the Afghan China-man bowler, and Mohammad Mithun was hunted by West Indian T20 captain Carlos Brathwaite.

At the end of the innings, Rangpur were blessed with a total of 169 for three thanks to the fourth wicket stand of Rilee and Ravi who added 104 runs in the partnership. Rile remained unbeaten on 76 off 52 balls while Ravi made an unconquered 40 off 29 balls. Ravi also hit a 40-plus score the first match of Rangpur against Chittagong Vikings

At the end of 14 overs, Riders scored 94 for three wickets and in the last six overs, they added 75 runs on the board which eventually helped them have a challenging total.

Ali Khan, Zahir Khan and Carlos Brathwaite took one wicket each for the Titans. No local player of Khulna had been able to take a wicket in the match.

Rangpur Riders will play their third match against Comilla Victorians on January 8 at 5:20pm and Khulna Titans will face Dhaka Dynamites on the same day at 12:30pm.