|| CF Correspondent ||

Defending champion Rangpur Riders skipper Mashrafe Bin Mortaza believes that the team is peaking at the right time in the ongoing Bangladesh Premier League after their comprehensive win over table topper’s Chittagong Vikings at their own den on Friday.

While Chris Gayle and AB de Villiers, two of the biggest names on the T20 circuit, failed to deliver, Rangpur Riders found heroes in the form of Alex Hales and Rilee Rossouw on the night to inflict a 72-run loss on Chittagong Vikings.

In a very rare occurrence for a T20 game, both Hales and Rossouw managed to score hundreds, hitting a barrage of sixes to thrill the crowd to win their third successive match after making a shaky start by only two wins from opening six games.

‘’You can say we are peaking at the right time because in this kind of tournaments if you click lately then there is an advantage because you need to carry a momentum and if you pick it lately chances are high you will end up keeping it until the end,’’ Mashrafee told reporters at the end of their massive win against the home team adding that there was nothing like taking any kind of revenge considering they were humiliated by the same opposition in the opening game of the tournament as they were bundled our for a paltry 98 runs to taste a three wicket defeat.

‘’Actually, in cricket there is nothing called revenge. In T20 format how you are playing and performing is important and depends on many things. When they dismissed Chris Gayle early, there was a pressure obviously, but how Rossouw and Hales batted was unbelievable,’’ said Mashrafe.

‘’In that time we got the momentum. Chasing 240 runs is very difficult even you do with the lowest bowling attack its still difficult. It is not revenge actually, this win was very necessary because we were not in a good position. We need to win more matches for going to second round, but by winning this match we came to a comfort zone,’’ he said.

‘’From this, if we win two more matches then we can lift us to the next round. Even it can be possible if we win one match and keep the run rate high. It was a pressure match for us and we are really felling good to win this,’’ he added.

Mashrafe added that he would keep Hales century ahead of Rille Rossouw as he took the initial challenge of putting pressure on the opponent but insisted that it was the South African who gave the last push to help them post highest total of BPL.

‘’First of all I will say the batsman who has taken off. Because person who contributes initially has a big part in the game. However Hales stared was good, but in these type of matches finishing is very important and Rossouw played till the end,’’ said Mashrafee.