Captain Mashrafe fires in first spell

Rangpur Riders skipper Mashrafe bin Mortaza produced a brilliant spell of bowling against Comilla Victorians in their high-voltage BPL match. 

Mashrafe picked up four wickets in his allotted four overs, conceding just 11 runs. 

More importantly, he picked up the wickets of Tamim Iqbal (four off 10 balls), Imrul Kayes (two off four balls), Evin Lewis (eight off 15 balls) and Comilla captain Steve Smith (zero off five balls) during his four-over spell. 

Tamim got out in Mashrafe’s second over. Kayes and Lewis were dismissed in his third over. 

A stunning opening spell by Rangpur captain Mashrafe Mortaza, Comilla Victorians are 31-6 as Shahid Afridi becomes the first batsman to reach double digits #BPL2019 https://t.co/NIQDoy6eJ6 pic.twitter.com/PO4oKs4i3r

— ESPNcricinfo (@ESPNcricinfo) January 8, 2019

The last over he bowled was a maiden, and he also accounted for the wicket of Smith, so it was a wicket-maiden for the Rangpur captain. 

This was his best ever bowling figure in T20s, while his previous best I 4/19 against Ireland in 2012. 

Mashrafe yet again showcased his expertise in the shorter formats with his clever bowling, and tight line and length.

6TH MATCH, CVvRR

COMILLA VICTORIANS        R    B

Tamim c Farhad b Mashrafe     4    10

Lewis c Nazmul b Mashrafe     8    15

Imrul c Bopara b Mashrafe     2    4

Smith c Farhad b Mashrafe     0    5

Malik lbw b Shafiul         0    3

Anamul c Howell b Farhad     2    7

Afridi c Gayle b Nazmul     25    18

Saifuddin c Mithun b Shafiul     7    5

Mahedi st Mithun b Nazmul     6    13

Haider c Mithun b Nazmul     5    11

Shahid not out            0    7

Extras (w 4)            4 

Total (16.2 Overs)        63 all out 

Fall Of Wickets

1-10 (Tamim), 2-16 (Imrul), 3-18 (Lewis), 4-18 (Malik), 5-18 (Smith), 6-27 (Anamul), 7-39 (Saifuddin), 8-55 (Afridi), 9-62 (Mahedi), 10-63 (Haider)

Bowling

Mashrafe 4-1-11-4, Gazi 2-0-7-0, Shafiul 2-1-8-2, Nazmul 3.2-1-20-3, Farhad 2-0-11-1, Howell 3-0-6-0

RANGPUR RIDERS        R    B

Gayle c Anamul b Haider    1    5

Maruf not out            36    39

Rossouw not out        20    28

Extras (lb 1, w 9)        10 

Total (12 Overs)        67/1 

Fall Of Wickets

1-14 (Gayle)

Bowling

Haider 3-0-11-1, Mahedi 3-0-22-0, Shahid 2-0-10-0, Afridi 2-0-16-0, Saifuddin 1-0-3-0, Smith 1-0-4-0

Rangpur Riders won by nine wickets

MoM: Mashrafe bin Mortaza (RR)