|| CF Correspondent ||

Rangpur Riders showed yet another unrelenting performance to top the BPL point table as they crushed a listless Comilla Victorians by nine wickets on Saturday

After the end of the group both Riders and Victorians have 16 points from 12 games but the former edged the latter past by better net-run-rate. These two however will face off each other in the first qualifier game on Monday in a bid to move into the BPL final straightway. The loser however will get another chance to give it a shot to the final as they will play the winner of the Eliminator game.

But what would keep Victorians worried was their second below hundred total in the tournament, after being bowled out for 72 in just 16.3 overs. Against the same opponent they have the shamble of being all out for 63, the season’s lowest total, in their first encounter in the group phase.

That means they would take on Rangpur in the first qualifier with a huge uneasiness of not being crossed even 100 runs in two encounters. In both occasion they lost the match by nine wickets.

While Rangpur took 12 overs to overhaul the target of 64 in the first encounter on January 6, this time they took just 9.3 overs to get over the line, making 76 for one in reply of Comilla’s 72.

They had lost only one wicket in Mehedi Maruf (5), who replaced Alex Hales, out with injury, at the top of the batting order. But AB de Villiers, playing his last match for Riders and Chris Gayle added an unbeaten 67 runs off 50 balls for the second wicket to make it a predictable one-way traffic.

Gayle hit 35 not out off 30 with two fours and as many sixes while Villiers was unbeaten on 22 ball-34, with four fours and two sixes, last of which was his trademark slog-swept six over deep midwicket fence that sealed the emphatic victory and his departure from the tournament quite fittingly. 

With Rangpur designing their batting line up with four explosive overseas batsmen of the world, Ravi Bopara found no place in the team. He finally got his chance when Alex Hales returned to England with injury and made immediate impact, claiming three for seven in three overs, a performance that earned him the man of the match award on his comeback match.

While Nahidul Islam and skipper Mashrafe Bin Mortaza dismantled Comilla’s batting line up, snapping up two wickets apiece, Bopara’s shrewd change of pace and nagging line and length was key in ripping through the opponent’s strong middle order.