Twitter Reactions: Reza and Russouw takes apart Rajshahi Kings

Rangpur Riders didn’t have much difficulty in regaining the top spot in the ongoing Bangladesh Premier League. After a stupendous bowling show against Rajshahi Kings at Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chattogram, their power-packed batting helped the defending champions win by six wickets. Meanwhile, the Kings keep languishing at the bottom and need to win their last round robin match.

Riders restrict the Kings

The Rajshahi Kings won the toss and elected to bat first, but the decision somewhat backfired as they could only score 141 for eight. Farhad Reza struck first blood, dismissing Johnson Charles. Soumya Sarkar and Mominul Haque got out cheaply as well. However, Laurie Evans smacked five glorious boundaries to score 35 runs from 31 balls before being dismissed by seamer Shahidul Islam.

In the next over, Nazmul Islam Apu cleaned up Mehidy Hasan. After 13.3 overs, the Kings were reeling at 96/6. Christiaan Jonker, Fazle Mahmud and Qais Ahmed scored 16, 18 and 22 respectively to propel the Kings’ score. From the Riders’ perspective, Farhad got three wickets. Left-arm spinner Nazmul Islam and Shahidul accounted for a couple of batsmen each. Nahidul Islam chipped in with Mominul’s wicket.

Russouw wields the willow   

Rangpur Riders didn’t get off to the best of starts as Chris Gayle perished after hitting Arafat Sunny for two fours. Mehidy Hasan dismissed him for 10 in the 3rd over. Afghanistan spinner Qais Ahmed rattled Allex Hales’ woodwork to pick up the second Riders’ wicket. Thereafter, the Proteas duo of Rilee Russouw and AB de Villiers took the Kings’ bowling by the scruff of its neck and made the game one-sided.

Russouw ended up scoring 55 runs from 43 balls with the help of five boundaries and a couple of sixes. He also became the first batsman to score over 500 runs in a single edition of the BPL. Fast bowler Kamrul Islam Rabbi castled him in the 16th over. ABD, on the other hand, notched a 27-ball 37 before falling prey to Sunny. Nahidul Islam found the boundary two times to seal the fate of the encounter.

Here is how Twitter reacted

https://twitter.com/RRidersofficial/status/1090278429562470406

Get the latest Cricket News and updates, Match Predictions, Fantasy Cricket Tips and lots more on CricTracker.com.