Sylhet hammered at home as Rangpur romp to six-wicket win

Rangpur Riders notched up their fourth win in seven matches at the ongoing Bangladesh Premier League (BPL). It was the first match of the Sylhet phase of the tournament and Nurul Hasan's side hammered the home team and romped to a six-wicket victory. 

Sylhet captain Mashrafe Mortaza made the modest 93-run chase slightly tricky for Rangpur with the wickets of Mahedi Hasan and Shoaib Malik in consecutive deliveries but Rony Talukder anchored the innings really well to ensure they did not falter.

Rangpur aced the chase with 26 balls to spare. Rony was unbeaten on 41 off 38 and Mohammad Nawaz hit a few lusty blows in his 18* off 13 to finish off quickly. 

Earlier, Sylhet number eight Tanzim Hasan Sakib saved them from embarrassment with a timely 36-ball-41 amid the ruins.  They were at one stage restricted to 18 for seven in the ninth over and were staring down the barrel. 

The local trio of Towhid Hridoy, Zakir Hasan and Mushfiqur Rahim could not open the account. Najmul Hossain Shanto, the hero of the previous match, hit a maximum but could not carry on. His opening partner Tom Moores was the first victim of Azamatullah Omarzai, who would get two more wickets later.

The 48-run partnership between Sakib and skipper Mashrafe Mortaza helped Sylhet to get to 92 for nine after 20 overs. Mashrafe struck two sixes in his good hand of a run-a-ball 21.

Before getting out as the ninth batter, Sakib smashed five fours and two sixes en route to his 41. Both Mashrafe and Sakib were dismissed by pacer Hasan Mahmud (3/12). Mahedi Hasan got a couple as well.

Despite the hammering, Sylhet remained on top of the pile and their captain Mashrafe said that it was a bad day at the office and the team would bounce back. 

"Losing three wickets in a row makes it difficult to come back in the game. Need to assess the pitch early. Few matches are still left for us. Sealing the top two places is very important. Today was a bad day. We will come back strongly," he said.

Rangpur skipper Nurul lauded the team for hitting the right chords at the right time and reserved special praise for the bowling unit. 

"The team is playing well in this tournament. [Azmatullah] Omarzai and Mahedi [Hasan] set it up. In the first few overs it was clear it was a tricky wicket. I just asked the bowlers to restrict them as low as possible. Mahedi bowled 4 overs, Omarzai 3 in a row, and Haris [Rauf] also 3 up front."

Omarzai got three important wickets and was rightly named the player of the match. His booming inswinger to get Mushfiqur out was a big moment in the game.

"I found good swing today. That was the talk with Haris [Rauf] as well. That ball happens occasionally [Mushfiqur's dismissal]. [That was] one of my favourite dismissals," Omarzai said.