Sikandar Raza's 95 lifts Chittagong from bottom place
Chittagong Vikings overcame Andre Fletcher's blistering 71 to defend 211 and beat Sylhet Sixers by 40 runs in their first home game
Chittagong Vikings overcame Andre Fletcher's blistering 71 to defend 211 and beat Sylhet Sixers by 40 runs in their first home game
Scorer: Ranjith P | Commentator: Akshay Gopalakrishnan
This has been among the BPL's highest-scoring matches this year. That's been a rarity, with sluggish pitches being the flavour of the season. For large parts of the chase, this match promised to be a lot more exciting and a lot tighter, but that wasn't to be. On that note, I take your leave. We hope you had fun on this night of six-hitting. Be back for more tomorrow. Goodbye and goodnight!
10.33pm How quickly a match can turn around? Sylhet looked like they would chase this down at the end of the Powerplay. At the halfway mark, they were still well on course. And then things went horribly wrong. They lost their two set batsmen, Andre Fletcher and Babar Azam, in successive overs, and from there unravelled pretty rapidly. There were no other heroes for them on this night. And at long last, Chittagong get another win, a well-deserved one achieved on the back of a power-packed career-best effort from Sikandar Raza. He played one of the finest T20 innings I have seen in recent times. Sylhet need to brush off this defeat and get back on track quickly as the race to the playoffs gets tighter.
"We have three matches to go, and I will look to win those matches," says Nasir Hossain, Sylhet captain.
"The batters just put up a terrific performance," says Chittagong captain Luke Ronchi. "Sikandar Raza was unfortunate to miss out on a hundred but that was an unbelievable innings. The middle period was crucial for us as Sylhet lost their way a little bit. The spinners did a fantastic job. We tried to change it up so they wouldn't get a rhythm going. We just need to keep playing like we did tonight and pick up as many wins as possible."
Sikandar Raza is Man of the Match. "I wasn't disappointed with whenever I got out. Every time I go out to bat, I try and do my best for my team and play the way the situation needs me to and today was no different," he says. "Staan van Zyl batted outstandingly and he wasin fact the reason we got that partnership going. I certainly surprised myself with some of the shots I played. It's just one of those things, when it comes together it comes together. Whatever the situation and whenever you want me to go out there, I try to do my best. There are few things that are not in my control, but I just try to play as honestly as I can."
Nurul Hasan c Reece b Taskin Ahmed 28 (16b 1x4 2x6) SR: 175.00
Chittagong Vikings overcame Andre Fletcher's blistering 71 to defend 211 and beat Sylhet Sixers by 40 runs in their first home game