2024-02-14 10:04:25
The visitors of Chittagong welcomed Shakib Al Hasan with fake calls. With the bat in hand, the scene began to change with the storm. On the day of his fastest fifty, he also received a standing ovation from the crowd who stormed into the field after breaking the fence. South African leg spinner Imran Tahir gave Rangpur Riders a big win with a fifer in Shakib’s successful match in bat-ball.
Batting first, Rangpur scored 219 runs at Chittagong’s Zahoor Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium on Tuesday (February 13). Khulna Tigers were all out for 141 runs in the chase. Rangpur is at the top of the table with its sixth consecutive win. On the other hand, after four consecutive wins, Khulna suffered the pain of fourth consecutive defeat.
With the likes of Alex Hales-Evin Lewis in the opposition camp, even 220 runs seemed paltry. Khulna could not utilize Sagarika’s run delivery wicket. Lewis (11) gave a glimpse of the storm by hitting Shakib for a six off the second ball of the third over. But Shakib returned him with the next ball and started Khulna’s downfall. However, Hales was giving hope to the Khulna camp as they were on the field. Khulna’s dream came to an end when Tahir’s whirlwind hit him with a maximum of 60 runs off 33 balls.
No other batsman could score more than twenty runs. In the last 20 runs from 14 balls came from the bat of Luke Wood. Tahir made a career best bowling feat for 5 wickets alone with only 26 runs in 4 overs. This is Tahir’s third wicket in T20Is, first in BPL. Today was Tahir’s last match for Rangpur. This spinner finished his career in a great way by getting the man of the match award. Apart from this, Shakib took 2 wickets.
Earlier, Rangpur Riders lost 2 wickets in 24 runs. After that, Saki-Mahedi Hasan stormed with the bat. They added 109 runs in the third wicket partnership. That too only 48 balls.
At this time, Shakib took the fastest fifty of the season. He scored the fastest fifty in just 20 balls with 4 fours and 5 sixes. Then the world’s best all-rounder got out after scoring 69 runs off 31 balls with 6 fours and 6 sixes. This is Shakib’s second fastest among Bangladeshi batsmen in BPL history. Rony Talukder holds the record for 19-ball fifty.
Mahedi kept the run wheel going even though Shakib was out. He scored 60 runs in 36 balls with 6 fours and 4 sixes. In the end, Sohan scored an unbeaten 32 off 13 balls with 3 fours and 2 sixes and Dwayne Pretorius played an unbeaten 17 runs with 1 four and 1 six to take the team’s total to 219. Luke Wood of Khulna took 3 wickets with 19 runs in 4 overs. Nahid Rana and Nasum Ahmed took 1 wicket each.