Rangpur Rangers ended their BPL 2019-20 season on a high by defeating Dhaka Platoon by 11 runs in the 39th match of the tournament. Lewis Gregory (46 & 1/25) and Taskin Ahmed (2/25) shone for the Rangers as they recorded their fifth win of the season.
Talking about their bowling performance first, apart from Taskin and Gregory, Junaid Khan (2/22) also troubled the opposition batsmen. However, it was Arafat Sunny (2/29) who set the tone of the innings for Rangers by dismissing the two top-order batsmen, Tamim Iqbal (34) and Mahedi Hasan (20).
There was no major partnership for Dhaka Platoon as the Mashrafe Mortaza-led outfit fell 11 runs short of their 150-run target. Overseas stars Shadab Khan (16) and Asif Ali (1) could not live up to the expectations while Mortaza (12*) could not play the big shots in the final overs.
Earlier in the day, Mortaza had won the toss and elected to field first. The Dhaka skipper won the battle of the captains as he got the better of his rival captain Shane Watson (10) on the third ball of his spell. Mahedi Hasan (1/29) and Shadab Khan (2/25) sent Cameron Delport (6) and Mohammad Naim (15) back to the pavilion soon.
However, Lewis Gregory stitched a partnership of 49 runs with Al-Amin (35) to stabilize the innings. Jahurul Islam (28) also chipped in with some vital runs as, despite Thisara Perera's (3/23) late outburst, Rangpur ended their innings on 149/9.
Lewis Gregory won the Man of the Match award for his all-round brilliance and, Rangpur took the sixth spot on the points table with 10 points in 12 matches. On the other hand, Dhaka Platoon are still at the second position with 14 points in 11 matches. They will play their last league match against Khulna Tigers on 11th January.
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