Table-toppers Comilla Victorians defeated Rangpur Riders by four wickets to register their 8th win and became the first team to qualify for the playoffs in the seven-team Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) T20 at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium on Saturday.
Comilla Victorians chased down a target of 98 runs scoring100 for 6 in 19.3 overs where Marlon Samuels hit a boundary in the last ball of the match delivered by Isuru Udana, news agency UNB reports.
Skipper Tamim Iqbal top-scored with a run-a-ball 22 with three boundaries and one six before being caught by Nahidul Islam off Sohag Gazi, leaving the team total on 35/2 in 6.3 overs.
Shoaib Malik (20 off 24b; 2x4; 1x6), Samuels (16* off 18b; 2x4) and Imrul Kayes (14 off 26b; 1x40) were the other double digit scorers for the side.
Rangpur Riders skipper Mashrafe Bin Mortaza captured three wickets for 24 runs while Nazmul Islam bagged two and Sohag Gazi one for 17 and 15 runs respectively. All delivered four overs each.
Sent into bat first, Rangpur Riders were all out for 97 in 17.1 overs - - the lowest score of this BPL edition, till date, with Brendon McCullum top-scoring 24 off 31 balls, including two fours and one six.
Mohammad Mithun (17 off 14b; 3x4) and Sohag Gazi (12 off 10b; 1x4) were the other double digit scorers for the losers.
Conceding 22 runs each, man of the match Mahedi Hasan captured four wickets and Mohammad Saifuddin got three. Al-Amin Hossain took one wicket for 18 runs.
With the day's result Comilla Victorians collected 16 points from 10 outings, having eight wins and two losses while Rangpur Riders running in the 4th slot securing 10 points from 10 matches with five wins and five losses.
In their previous battles in this league 20th match at the same venue, Comilla Victorians (153 for 6 in 20 overs) defeated Rangpur Riders (139 for 7 in 20 overs) by 14 runs on November 18.