Comilla Victorians beat Rajshahi Kings by 5 wickets

Despite a little wobble towards the end, Comilla Victorians easily batted out Rajshahi Kings by five wickets on Friday night at Mirpur Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket stadium.

The Victorians secured their second victory in three matches in the sixth edition of Bangladesh Premier League (BPL).

Chasing a target of 125 set by Rajshahi Kings, Victorians made 130 with 8 balls to spare just losing five wickets.

They had a great opening partnership which was worth 65 runs between Lewis and Anamul. Anamul Haque Bijoy struck 40 off 32 balls for the Victorians with four fours and one six, which remained Comilla’s best knock.

After the former's departure, Tamim joined Anamul and both kept ticking the scorecard by knocking it around.

Just when things were looking a bit rosy for the Kings, Tamim threw his wicket away to Mehidy and that allowed Rajshahi to make a comeback into the contest.

The victorians lost four wickets quickly but Afridi and Dawson batted sensibly in the final few overs to take them home.

Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Qais Ahmed and Mustafizur Rahman took one wicket each for Rajshahi.

Earlier, despite a firm batting show of captain Mehidhy Hasan Miraz while opening for the first time in BPL, the Kings posted 124 all-out in 18.5 overs.

Imrul Kayes, who led Comilla Victorians in the absence of Steve Smith, won the toss and decided to bowl first. The decision came as a blessing for Comilla who took two wickets of Rajshahi in 20 runs.

Rajshahi captain Miraz opened the innings for his team with Mominul Haque. But they managed only 20 runs in the first wicket stand. Mominul (3) was the first man to get dismissed. Mohammad Saifuddin took the wicket of Mominul, and in the very next ball, he dismissed Soumya Sarkar (0) who is struggling to live up to the expectations in the BPL.

Rajshahi lost three wickets at 53 runs when Pakistan star Shahid Afridi came to the action. He took two wickets in successive two balls removing Mehidy Hasan (30) and Laurie Evans (0) after Liam Dawson removed Mohammad Hafeez (16).

Eventually, Rajshahi tumbled for 124 runs after Isuru Udana scored 32 at number nine which remained Kings’ best knock in the match.

Shahid Afridi took three wickets for 10 runs in four overs while Abu Hider Rony, Liam Dawson and Mohammad Saifuddin bagged two wickets each for the Victorians.

Comilla Victorians will play their next match against Chittagong Vikings on January 13 at 6:30pm while Rajshahi will face off Rangpur Riders on the same day at 1:30pm. Both of the matches will be played at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium.

Source: dailysun