The opening day of Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) was very much discussed due to various incidents. But the discussion outside the field of six-fours must have forgotten the cricket lovers to some extent! The score crossed 190 in all three innings of the two matches. After Fortune Barisal in the first match of the day, Rangpur Riders got the expected win in the second match as well. The Global Champions got off to a flying start in the BPL by beating King Khan Shakib's Dhaka Capitals by 40 runs.
Rangpur scored 191 runs for 6 wickets after being invited to bat first, defeating the fans' celebration of six-fours at the Mirpur Sherebangla Stadium. They lost two quick wickets in the beginning but got a great collection due to the determination of Khushdil Shah-Iftikhar Ahmed. Chasing the target of 192 runs, Sheikh Mehdi Hasan's whirlwind was crushed by Dhaka. Their innings stopped at 151 runs for 9 wickets.
Chasing the target, Dhaka began to show hope of victory. In the opening pair, the two openers Liton Das and Tanjid Hasan Tamim added 65 runs in 7.3 overs. Sheikh Mehdi gave Rangpur an important break-through by returning Tanjid Tamim in the eighth over. The left-handed batsman scored 30 runs off 21 balls with two sixes and four fours.
Then Dhaka's batting collapsed. Mehdi sent back Habibur Rahman Sohan (6) in the same over. He returned Liton and Afghan all-rounder Farmanullah (1) in his next over. 31 runs from 27 balls came from Litton's bat. Mehdi took 4 wickets with 27 runs, Khushdil took 2 wickets.
Dhaka captain Thisara Perera won the toss and invited Rangpur to bat first. Rangpur lost the wickets of two openers Steven Taylor (14) and Alex Hales (5) for 20 runs. The next four batters played effective innings. Saif Hasan 40, Iftikhar 49, Khushdil's unbeaten 26 off 23 balls and Sohan scored 25 runs off 11 balls courtesy of Rangpur collecting 191 runs. Alauddin Babu of Dhaka 3 and Mukidul Islam Muddar Shikar 2.
