BPL 2016, Match 4 Review: Mohammad Shahzad blows away the Vikings

Chittagong Vikings came into their second encounter of the season on a high note. Having defeated the defending champions in the tournament opener, the Tamim Iqbal-led side looked to continue their momentum. They were up against the Rangpur Riders who were to play their first match of the season. Riders, under the leadership of Naeem Islam, looked a settled unit on paper. The Riders boasted of big names like Mohammad Shahzad and Shahid Afridi.

Coming into the match, the Rangpur Riders won the toss and opted to bowl first. They went in with the English duo of Liam Dawson and Richard Gleeson in addition to Shahid Afridi and Ahmed Shahzad as their overseas players. The Chittagong Vikings did not tinker with their winning combination and stuck to the same overseas players – Dwayne Smith, Shoaib Malik, Mohammad Nabi and Tymal Mills. The dangerous duo of Tamim Iqbal and Dwayne Smith walked to the crease to start the proceedings for the Vikings.

Tamim, who hit a brilliant fifty in the last match, couldn’t do much on the day against Riders. Sohag Gazi accounted for sending back both the dynamic openers cheaply. He got rid of both the openers in space of 3 balls in the 3rd over of the match. With Tamim (11) and Smith (10) back in the hut, the onus was now on the two new batsmen at the crease – Anamul Haque and Shoaib Malik. Haque led the counter attack as Malik seemed to play the anchor role.

With 56 runs in the power play, the Vikings looked set for a launch from thereon. The 3rd wicket stand of 48 runs off 34 balls came to an end when Haque was run out by Dawson on 25 off 16 balls in the 8th over. Jahurul Islam (3) and Mohammad Nabi (5) had a short stay at the crease as Vikings found themselves collapsing all of a sudden. Things went from bad to worse when Malik was run out in the 15th over by Soumya Sarkar on 30 (32). At 93/6 in the 15th over, the Rangpur Riders knew they had clawed back in the game.

No batsmen could settle thereafter as wickets kept falling at regular intervals. Shahid Afridi bowled a tight spell of 4 overs for 1/12 in the middle overs to keep a check on the run flow too. Vikings bundled out for 124 in 19.4 overs with Malik being the top scorer with 30. Among the bowlers, Gazi and Gleeson picked up 2 wickets each.

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The Rangpur Riders came in to chase the modest total of 124. The openers, Mohammad Shahzad and Soumya Sarkar, looked to be batting on a different track altogether. Sarkar was cautious in his approach. But it was Shahzad who absolutely hammered the Vikings bowling attack right from the word go. The Riders made a steady start with 43 runs on the board in the powerplay without losing a wicket. Tymal Mills made the first breakthrough in the 10th over by dismissing Sarkar on 23 off 25 balls.

Mohammad Mithun was the new man in. Shahzad took the entire job of chasing on his own. He reached his fifty in the 12th over of the match as the Riders cruised along with ease. It was only a matter of time that they chased down 124. A Yorker from Taskin Ahmed on the penultimate delivery of the 15th over went horribly wrong and Shahzad put it away into the stands. That equalized the scores. Riders easily chased down 124 in just 15 overs with 9 wickets in hand.

The sculptor of the win was Mohammad Shahzad who remained unbeaten on 80 off 52 balls with 11 fours and 3 sixes. Mithun remained unbeaten on 12.

Brief Scores:

Chittagong Vikings 124/10 in 20 overs (Malik 30, Haque 25, Gazi 2/18, Gleeson 2/30)

Rangpur Riders 125/1 in 15 overs (Shahzad 80*, Sarkar 23, Mills 1/30)