Riders post record total as Hales, Rossouw hit tons

Sports Desk: Rangpur Riders post a mammoth total of 239 runs for four in 20 overs on Friday against Chittagong Vikings in Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in the port city which is the highest-ever team total in the history of Bangladesh Premier League (BPL).

Alex Hales and Rilee Rossouw hit centuries for the Riders which is the first-ever instance of two batters scoring tons in the same innings of a BPL match.

Chittagong Vikings won the toss and opted to bowl first. Rangpur Riders started the innings losing Chris Gayle just in six runs. The Caribbean batting superstar fell for two. Abu Jayed Rahi, the right-arm pacer of the Vikings, trapped him for lbw.

In the second wicket stand, Alex Hales and Rilee Rossouw posted 180 runs which is the biggest stand in any wicket in BPL.

Heles, the English recruit of the Riders, struck 100 off 48 balls with 11 fours and five sixes. And Rilee Rossouw remained unbeaten for 100 off 51 balls with eight fours and five sixes to his name. Before hitting his first ton in BPL, Rilee hit four half-centuries in his nine previous matches of this year’s BPL.

Along the way of posting 239 for four, the Riders surpassed the previous highest team total of BPL of 217 runs which was scored by Dhaka Dynamites against them in 2013.

After five years, the Riders rewrote the history against the Vikings in their home — the port city of Chattogram—surpassing Vikings’ 214 which was the highest score of the ongoing season of BPL.

In the run-fest in Chattogram, Abu Jayed Rahi took two wickets for the Vikings while Robiul Haque and Sikandar Raza bagged one wicket each. Robiul was the most expensive bowler of the Vikings as he conceded 54 runs in his four overs while Khaled Ahmed leaked 50 runs in three overs.

risingbd/Dhaka/January 25, 2019/AKA