Yasir Ali and Ryan Burl put up a show as Durbar Rajshahi ended the eight-match winning streak of table-toppers Rangpur Riders with a聽 24-run victory at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium on Thursday.
Rajshahi posted 170-9 in 20 overs, thanks to Yasir鈥檚 32-ball 60. Rangpur then stumbled to 146 in 19.2 overs, where Burl took 4-22. This was Rangpur鈥檚 first defeat of this edition, having already qualified for the playoffs.
Opener Sabbir Hossain (39 off 19) and Anamul Haque (34 off 31) got a solid start for Rajshahi as they added 62 in the powerplay. Yasir, who hit six sixes in his innings, then put 76 off 50 balls with Anamul.
With 143-3 at the beginning of the 16th, Rajshahi were eyeing a big total. However, they lost their next six wickets for just 13 runs and only managed to score 17 in the last four overs.
Captain Taskin Ahmed and SM Meherob then brought a dream start for Rajshahi with the ball as they had Rangpur at 15-3 in the fourth over.
Saif Hassan (43 off 19) at the top, captain Nurul Hasan (41 off 26) in the middle, and then Mohammad Saifuddin (23 off 14) at the end made contributions, but that eventually proved to be futile.
Rajshahi used seven bowlers in the innings where Taskin and Meherob each took two wickets along with Burl鈥檚 four; Shafiul Islam and Sabbir took one each.
This was Rajshahi鈥檚 fourth win of the season in 10 matches, and that kept them in the hunt for the playoffs. To Burl, who was adjudged player of the match, the win meant something more.
鈥業t鈥檚 a really cheerful, happy feeling to be winning,鈥� said Burl at the post-match press conference.
鈥業t probably means much more to win against the number one team in the tournament so far, who are obviously on a good run, and their players are in form.鈥�
鈥楨specially for us, for a time in a bit of a do-or-die scenario where we need to win games in order to try and get to the qualifiers,鈥� added Burl.
On the other hand, Nurul thought that the loss was a wake-up call for them.
鈥極f course it was [a wake-up call],鈥� said the Rangpur captain. 鈥極f course it鈥檚 alarming for all of us. Now everyone can think from their own positions. Cricket is such that you鈥檝e to play well in order to win. You cannot just come and win; you cannot expect that.鈥�
鈥楨veryone will think where the mistakes were. Everyone will work on how we can come back strongly,鈥� Nurul added.