Comilla Victorians crushed Chittagong Vikings by eight wickets for their maiden victory in the 5th Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) T20 in the tournament's 5th match at the Sylhet International Cricket Stadium in Sylhet on Tuesday, reports UNB.
Victorians chased down a target of 144 for 2 in 17.2 overs with Josh Buttler top-scoring 48 off 42 balls, including three boundaries and two sixes.
Marlon Samuels nailed the win with a boundary in the last ball of the match off Subashis Roy.
Samuels shared an unbeaten innings of 44 off 4.2 overs with Imrul Kayes in the 3rd wicket stand to shore their vessel to the destination, starting 100/2 in 13.4 overs, after the departure of English wicketkeeper-batsman Buttler.
Kayes and Buttler shared a partnership of 57 off 9.2 overs in the 2nd wicket stand which ended on 100/2 in 13.4 overs as Buttler was caught by Luke Ronchi off Subashis Roy.
West Indian batsman Samuels scored 35* off 18 balls, including four boundaries and one six, while Kayes added another unbeaten figure of 33* off 31 balls, including one boundary and one six.
Victorians started the innings a bit good note as their opening pair between Buttler and Liton Kumar Das contributed 43 off 4.2 overs before Liton (23 off 14b; 3x4; 1x6) was trapped lbw by Subashis Roy.
Subashis Roy found two wickets for 24 runs in 3.2 overs for Vikings.
Sent in to bat first, Vikings collected 143 for 7 in 20 overs where three top order batsmen Luke Ronchi, Soumya Sarkar and Dilshan Munaweera scored 40, 38 and 21 runs respectively.
Victorians started with a bit decent note as their opening pair stayed for 63 off 5.5 overs between New Zealand wicketkeeper-batsman Ronchi and Soumya.
Ronchi departed from the opening pair after facing 21 balls to fire four boundaries and three sixes, and was caught by Alok Kapali off skipper Mohammad Nabi.
Soumya continued in the 2nd wicket stand with Munaweera for a sluggish partnership of 38 off 36 balls.
Soumya got a 22-ball company of the Sri Lankan batsman Munaweera who was caught by Marlon Samuels off Dwayne Bravo to an end of the 2nd pair on 101/2 in 11.5 overs.
Soumya played an innings of 33 balls to fire three boundaries and one six, before being bowled out by Mohammad Saifuddin on 106/3 in 13.3 overs.
Sikandar Raza was another double digit scorer with unbeaten 18 off 13 balls, including two boundaries for Vikings.
Man of the match Saifuddin clamped down three wickets for 24 runs in four overs while Bravo bagged two for 29 runs also in four overs. Skipper Nabi and pacer Al-Amin Hossain took one wicket each for 18 and 28 runs in two and four overs respectively.
Victorians started their campaign with a 4-wicket loss against the table topper Sylhet Sixers in the 3rd match of the league while Vikings started in the seven-team league with the day's match.
