BSP-11 Lewis steers Comilla Victorians to BPL final

871

ZCZC

BSP-11

CRICKET-BPL-COMILLA

Lewis steers Comilla Victorians to BPL final

DHAKA, Feb 4, 2019 (BSS)- Evin Lewis scored a match-winning unbeaten half century saw Comilla Victorians stormed into the final of Bangladesh Premier League T20 beating defending champions Rangpur Riders by eight-wicket in the first qualifier held on Monday at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium at Mirpur here.

Chasing a winning target of 166 runs set by Rangpur, Comilla hardly had to sweat as they comfortable reached home for the loss of two wickets with seven balls to spare.

Comilla lost their opener Tamim Iqbal for 17 runs but another opener Evin Lewis and Anamul Haque led the chase sharing 90 runs partnership for the second wicket stand to take Comilla to a comfortable position.

Anamul eventually fell to Shafiul after making a quick fire 32-ball off 39 runs hitting two boundaries and equal number of over boundaries.

But Lewis confident with bat as he again paired another unbeaten 41 runs for the third wicket stand along with Shamsur Rahman to take Comilla to the destination at ease to remain unbeaten till the end of the innings.

Lewis blazed 53-ball off 71 runs hitting five boundaries and three over boundaries. While Shamsur, who took pressure off with some timely hits towards the end to ensure Rangpur did not crawl back into the contest. He made a quick fire 15-ball off 34 runs smashing four boundaries and two sixes.

Shafiul Islam and Mashrafe Bin Mortaza took one Comilla’s wicket giving away 21 and 43 runs respectively.

Evin Lewis of Comilla Victorians was named the player of the match for his match-winning half century.

Earlier, cameo Benny Howell blazed unbeaten half century helped Rangpur Riders to post a competitive total of 165 for 5 from their allotted 20 overs after they decided to bat first.

The English all-rounder blasted 28-ball off 53 runs hitting three boundaries and five over boundaries and during the process he shared 70 runs for the fifth wicket stand with Rilee Rossouw to take Rangpur to a commanding position after Rangpur Riders slipped 4 for 74 runs in the score board.

Rossouw hammered 31-ball off 44 runs with the help of four boundaries and two over boundaries before fell to Saifuddin.

Earlier, Rangpur Riders lost Mehedi Maruf and Mohammad Mithun early in the innings but explosive opener Chris Gayle continued his characteristic batting making 44-balloff 46 runs that studded with six boundaries and one over boundary before perished to Mahedi Hasan.

Sanjit Saha, Mehedi Hasan, Mohammad Saifuddin and Wahab Riaz all took one Rangpur’s wicket each giving away 14, 28, 42 and 49 runs respectively.

BSS/SG/MMA/2230hrs