Rangpur Riders win five out of five; no joy for Dhaka yet

Rangpur Riders have taken a four-point lead at the top of the table after winning their first five games in the 2024-25 BPL season.

Their victories include two each against new franchise Dhaka Capital and Sylhet Strikers but their big gain was the win against defending champions Fortune Barishal. It was an early warning to their opponents of Rangpur's strength, having come into the tournament after winning the Global Super League title in Guyana.

Barishal, who are also strong contenders for the BPL title, will view the defeat to Rangpur as a major setback. They have won their other three matches: one against Sylhet and two against Durbar Rajshahi. Sylhet and Dhaka are the winless teams, having lost three and four matches respectively.

Chittagong Kings' Usman Khan scored the first century of the season - a match-winning 123 off 62 balls against Rajshahi. Hours later, Thisara Perera made 103 not out off 60 balls for Dhaka in their defeat to Khulna. Alex Hales' unbeaten 113 off 56 balls helped Rangpur chase down 206 against Sylhet. He added 186 runs for the second wicket with Saif Hassan, who started the BPL with two half-centuries in three innings.

Taskin Ahmed's 7 for 19 for Rajshahi brought the heat on a chilly day against Dhaka; it was only the third seven-wicket haul in T20 cricket and the first in a major franchise league. He shot to the top of the wicket charts with 12 scalps in four games. The Rangpur pair of Nahid Rana and Mahedi Hasan are also among the wickets. They have a four-wicket haul each, while Khulna's Abu Hider took the other four-wicket haul in the first week.

Tom O'Connell was recalled after being adjudged timed out in Chittagong's first match against Khulna in Dhaka.

Perera scoring a century from No 6 for Dhaka in a defeat was a statistical rarity in the BPL. It was only the second century at No 6 and lower in the BPL. Lahiru Samarakoon also bowled the most expensive four-over spell of the season so far - his 0 for 64 for Rajshahi against Barishal are the third most expensive figures in BPL history.

Jishan Alam, the 20-year old who came into the BPL after impressive performances in domestic T20 games, has had one good performance so far - scoring 38 off 27 balls for Rajshahi against Barishal after beginning his season with two ducks. Pakistani left-arm quick Jahandad Khan, also playing his first BPL season, took three wickets against Sylhet. Iqbal Hossain, an 18-year-old seamer, took 2 for 41 for Barishal on his BPL debut against Rangpur.