Towhid’s 85 in vain as spirited Rangpur humble Sylhet
GBNEWS24DESK//
Rangpur Riders beat Sylhet Strikers to bag their fifth straight win as they brilliantly chased 171 in the two sides Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) fixture at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Dhaka on Saturday.
The result took Rangpur level on points, 14, with Fortune Barishal and Comilla Victorians, while Sylhet still remain two points ahead of the aforementioned teams in the BPL table.
Sent in to bat, Sylhet rode on two quality knocks from in-form Towhid Hridoy and experienced Mushfiqur Rahim to post 170 despite being at 59 for two inside the 11th over.
Towhid struck his fifth half-century of the ongoing ninth BPL edition, the most by any batter, before registering a 57-ball 85-run knock that was laced with 13 boundaries and two sixes. The Bangladesh starlet is currently also the leading run-scorer with 373 runs to his name, two behind Najmul Hossain Shanto who got out after scoring 15 runs off 22 balls.
Mushfiqur, on the other hand, scored 55 runs off 35 deliveries and the veteran stitched an unbeaten 111-run stand with Towhid to throw Rangpur a challenging target.
Rangpur’s Azmatullah Omarzai stood out with his economy rate, having conceded only 17 runs in four overs that included two maidens. Off-spinner Mahedi Hasan and seamer Hasan Mahmud each scalped a wicket.
In reply, Rangpur got off to a blistering start as their openers – Rony Talukdar and Mohammad Naim – strung a century stand inside 10th over before Pakistani pacer Mohammad Irfan ended Rony’s 35-ball 66-run knock, featuring eight boundaries and three maximums. Naim later got out to Rejaur Rahman for a 32-ball 45 but Shoaib Malik’s 41 runs off 24 balls and skipper Nurul Hasan Sohan’s run-a-ball 17 ensured victory with 12 deliveries to spare.
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