Khulna Tigers 89 for 1 (Naim 48*) beat Rangpur Riders 85 all out (Javed 32, Mehidy 3-10. Nasum 3-16) by nine wickets
Khulna Tigers roared to a nine-wicket win against the star-studded Rangpur Riders in the BPL’s eliminator match. The victory puts them in the second qualifier to face the losing side from the first qualifier later on Monday. Khulna’s spinners helped bowl out Rangpur for 85, before needing just 10.1 overs to knock off the target.
Rangpur’s big guns misfire
The image of Andre Russell, James Vince and Tim David walking through the Dhaka airport on Monday morning was a sight for sore eyes in the Rangpur camp. They had lost their way in the latter part of the BPL, falling to four defeats after winning eight in a row. Rangpur needed this boost from their big guns coming in after their stints in the ILT20. But it didn’t quite pan out the way they would have hoped.
Vince got into a mix-up with his opening partner Soumya Sarkar off the second ball of the match, resulting in the latter being run out for a duck. Vince himself got caught and bowled in the second over. David was the next one to go, falling to a catch in the deep for 7 off 9 balls. Mohammad Nawaz clean bowled a slogging Russell in the 12th over, the last nail in the coffin for Rangpur.
Khulna spinners shut down the locals too
Having handled the recently arrived big-hitters very well, Khulna were also relentless against the Rangpur locals. After Soumya and Vince departed, Nasum removed Mahedi Hasan before Saif Hassan slogged Mehidy to no avail. When Mehidy removed his opposite number Nurul Hasan for 23, Rangpur were reduced to 52 for 9. It was only thanks to Aakif Javed’s intervention from No. 10 that they scored a few more runs.
Khulna glide in smooth chase
Mehidy’s wicket in the first over was the only blip in Khulna’s reply. Mohammad Naim continued his great form of the last two months, striking three fours and four sixes in his 33-ball 48 not out. It took him top of the BPL run-getters’ chart. Alex Ross added 29 runs off 27 balls, hitting four boundaries.
