Raza lords over Sylhet Sixers

Buoyed by vocal home support at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chittagong yesterday, lowly Chittagong Vikings turned things around in spectacular fashion by putting the highest total of the fifth edition of the Bangladesh Premier League on the board, courtesy of a boundary-filled 95 from Sikandar Raza, as they defeated Sylhet Sixers by 40 runs to bring up their second win of the edition and their first in five matches. The win takes them up a place to sixth spot in the seven-team table while Sylhet remain rooted to fourth place with their winless streak extending to five matches.

Chasing 212 to win, it seemed for a long time that Sylhet had the legs to topple the mammoth score as Andre Fletcher and Babar Azam struck up a high-octane 80-run partnership in just 9.2 overs after the opening stand between Fletcher and Gunathilaka realised 43 runs in 4.1 overs. However, Fletcher (71 off 46) and Azam (41 off 32) were dismissed in successive overs by Taskin Ahmed and Stiaan van Zyl respectively and when icon player Sabbir Rahman departed in the same over as Azam to leave the score on 129 for four after 15, the scoreboard pressure proved too much for the Sixers. They eventually limped to 171 for eight.

Earlier, on a pitch that the dew had quickened from the sluggish surface seen during the day match, Zimbabwean Raza hit 95 off 45 balls with the help of nine fours and six sixes, and was Chittagong's last wicket to fall in the 20th over, being caught off Kamrul Islam Rabbi after having scored 41 of the team's 64 runs off the last five overs. It was delayed justice for Kamrul as he had a chance to dismiss Raza for six as early as the 10th over, but Sylhet skipper Nasir Hossain spilled a tough chance that would not have been called a chance if he had not gotten his hand to a pull at midwicket through a spectacular effort.

That seemed to be the signal for Raza to go berserk, which he did from the next over, hitting Nasir for a six and a four before repeating the dose to Ghulam Mudassar and Abul Hasan in the overs that followed.

Raza reached his fifty off his 30th delivery in the 15th over with a four off Taijul Islam. Chittagong were then 147 for four after 15 overs. Batting on 54 off 31, Raza then hammered 41 runs off his next 14 deliveries. While many of Raza's six sixes were slogs occasioned by the format, most of the fours were classy shots and he deserved a hundred; his dismissal in the last over was met with stunned silence from the partisan crowd, but that was swiftly followed by thunderous applause for the innings they had witnessed.