Shoaib Malik struck his second unbeaten fifty that powered the Rangpur Riders to a 55-run win against the Chattogram Challengers in the Bangladesh Premier League at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium on Monday.
With Malik hitting a blistering 45-ball 75 and Azmatullah Omarzai making a stormy 24-ball 42, Rangpur managed a challenging 179-6 in the stipulated overs.
In response, Chattogram scored 124, led by skipper Shuvagata Hom's 52 off 31 balls, before being bowled out with 21 balls to spare.
Haris Rauf was the standout bowler for Rangpur, scalping 3-17, while Mehedi Hasan Rana was the pick among the Chattogram bowlers, picking up 3-39.
Rangpur faced an early blow when their Mahedi Hasan was dismissed inside the opening over, as he was caught and bowled by Shavagata for a single that shortened them to 2-1.
In the second and third wicket stand Mohammad Naim-Parvez Hossain Emon and Naim alongside Malik shared a 24 and 21 run to minimize to initial disasters prior to the exclusion of Naim for a 29-ball 34 and Emon for 6 by Vijayakanth Viyaaskanth and Shuvagata respectively leaving the side on a staggering 47-3.
Then, in the next stand, Malik and Omarzai shared a whirlwind 53-ball 105-run stand to surpass the hundred and fifty threshold before the latter was removed by Rana in 17.1 overs.
Rana then claimed Mohammad Nawaz and Shamim Hossain for 9 and 7 runs, respectively, to stop Rangpur from exceeding the 200-mark.
Chattogram made a stuttering start in pursuit of an exciting 180, losing their top-order trio for 11 runs on the power play.
Shuvagata and Drwish Rasooli looked desperate to boost their total with the flurry of willows in the fourth wicket stand, and the duo were almost successful in their goal, but their efforts were in vain after the latter was cut by Haris for 21.
Shuvagata and his new partner Ziaur Rahman were also hoping to reach the target, as the duo appeared to be batting bravely; however, their hopes were dashed when the latter gave a catch to substitute fielder Aaron Jones.
Then Shavagata played single handedly and accounted for his first BPL fifty of this edition; however, it just limited their run difference.