Jamaica-born all-rounder Andre Russell gave a brilliant performance and local hero Liton Das shone with bat as their side Rajshahi Royals beat Khulna Tigers by seven wickets in their Bangabandhu Bangladesh Premier League match at Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium, Chittagong Monday.
Royals captain Russell picked up four wickets to restrict the Tigers to 145, before his quickfire 28 and a half century from opener Liton Das helped the side reach 149/3 in 18 overs.
With the win, the Royals are now in second position in the league table with six points from four matches, while Tigers and Dhaka Platoon are behind them with same number of points from five matches each. Chattogram Challengers are leading the table with 10 points from seven matches.
#Mahedi inspires #Platoon victory over #Warriors https://t.co/49eM64xXaY
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Russell, who ended with bowling figures of 4/37, made a blistering start to the match as he himself took the new ball after winning the toss and removed dangerous Afghan opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz with the second ball when the score was five. He got rid of other opener Mehidy Hasan in the same over and Kamrul Islam Rabbi dismissed Tigers captain Mushfiqur Rahim and Nazmul Hossain Shanto in the fifth over to reduce them to 29/4.
Rilee Rossouw showed some resistance with 35 runs before Shamsur Rahman, who scored the Tigers’ highest 55, and Robbie Frylinck formed a 67-run stand to put the score over 140.
However, the total proved to be insufficient as the Royals openers reached 75 in the ninth over before Afif Hossain was run out for 18. Liton, who stroked some picturesque shots, scored 58 before getting out and captain Russell remained not out on 28 off 19 to navigate the ship to shore.
Russell was adjudged man of the match.
18TH MATCH, KTvRR
KHULNA TIGERS INNINGS R B
Gurbaz c Kamrul b Russell 4 2
Miraz c Afif b Russell 0 2
Rossouw c Farhad b Afif 35 24
Mushfiqur (c) c Liton b Kamrul 1 12
Shanto lbw b Kamrul 0 1
Shamsur c Afif b Russell 55 46
R Frylinck c Nahidul b Bopara 31 26
Shahidul c Alok Kapali b Russell 6 3
Amir c Afif b Bopara 3 3
Shafiul Islam not out 2 2
Tanvir Islam not out 0 0
Extras (lb 2, nb 1, w 5) 8
Total 145/9
Fall Of Wickets
1-5 (Rahmanullah Gurbaz, 0.2 ov), 2-6 (Mehidy Hasan, 0.5 ov), 3-29 (Mushfiqur Rahim, 4.2 ov), 4-29 (Najmul Hossain Shanto, 4.3 ov), 5-60 (Rilee Rossouw, 9.2 ov), 6-127 (Shamsur Rahman, 18.1 ov), 7-134 (Shahidul Islam, 18.5 ov), 8-142 (Robbie Frylinck, 19.2 ov), 9-144 (Mohammad Amir, 19.5 ov)
BOWLING
AD Russell 4-0-37-4, Mohammad Irfan 3-0-12-0, Kamrul Islam Rabbi 3-0-23-2, Abu Jayed 1-0-12-0, Afif Hossain 2-0-11-1, Alok Kapali 3-0-20-0, Farhad Reza 1-0- 8-0, RS Bopara 3-0-20-2
RAJSHAHI ROYALS INNINGS R B
Liton † c Tanvir b Shahidul 58 44
Afif run out (Mushfiqur/Tanvir ) 22 18
Shoaib Malik c Shanto b Frylinck 16 19
AD Russell (c) not out 28 19
RS Bopara not out 13 8
Extras (w 12) 12
Total (18 Overs) 149/3
Fall Of Wickets: 1-75 (Afif Hossain, 8.5 ov), 2-94 (Liton Das, 11.3 ov), 3-117 (Shoaib Malik, 15.3 ov)
BOWLING
Mohammad Amir 4-0-29-0, R Frylinck 4-0-39-1, Shafiul Islam 2-0-27-0, Tanvir Islam 4-0-26-0, Mehidy Hasan Miraz 1-0-5-0, Shahidul Islam 3-0-23-1
Rajshahi Royals won by seven wickets
MoM: Andre Russell (RR)
