Rangpur Riders collapse again, lose by 42 runs

Dhaka Dynamites took pole position in the BPL after their 42-run win over Rangpur Riders. Evin Lewis, in his first innings of the tournament, led the carnage with a 34-ball 75 that contained eight sixes.

His bashing began in the third over with a powerful pull over square leg off Sohag Gazi, before he slog swept Shahid Afridi over the same region in the next over. He struck four of the five sixes hit in the next two overs, mostly peppering the leg-side boundary. By this time he had reached fifty off 21 balls, before launching Liam Dawson and Soumya Sarkar for one six each. By the time the substitute Elias Sunny tumbled forward to complete the catch that got him in the 12th over, Lewis also struck three fours in his blazing innings.

Before Lewis' dismissal, Mehedi Maruf had fallen leg before to Soumya Sarkar after making 40 off 31 balls. He struck three sixes and as many fours, having added 103 runs for the opening wicket with Lewis in 9.5 overs.

Dhaka had a slight hiccup after the two openers exited, as they also lost Seekkuge Prasanna and Andre Russell quickly. Shakib Al Hasan and Dwayne Bravo added 34 runs for the fifth wicket before Rubel Hossain removed both as well as Nasir Hossain.

Rangpur's spinners, till now their strength, gave away 104 runs in nine overs while all seven wickets went to their pace bowlers.

Their batsmen hardly laid a dent on the 189-run target afterwards. Afridi's first stint as an opener in T20s since January 2012 lasted just two balls before the rest of the top and middle order fell away. When Soumya Sarkar got out, they were 46 for 6 before Gazi and Ziaur Rahman provided some resistance and big hits.

They ended up adding 87 runs for the seventh wicket with Ziaur Rahman reaching his first T20 fifty. Gazi contributed 36 off 26 balls with three fours and a six. Ziaur was bowled off the last ball of the match, having made 60 off 43 balls with six fours and three sixes. Abu Jayed and Shakib were the most effective of the bowlers.