To be continued

There were chaotic scenes in the second qualifier game between Rangpur Riders and Comilla Victorians last night, after rain had earlier forced a stop to the game in the Bangladesh Premier League at the Sher-e-Bangla national stadium in Mirpur yesterday.

Rangpur were batting on 55 for one in seven overs when the rain caused a stoppage at 6:35pm and according to the match officials the match will continue from the same position from 6:00 pm today.

After a lot of drama between the BPL governing council officials, Bangladesh Cricket Board officials and the captains of both teams on the field during the break, the match officials decided to extend the cut-off time by two hours to 11.15 pm and removed the covers from the pitch. According to the BPL playing conditions, in the case of rain interrupting and causing a match to be abandoned, the team placed higher in the points table would go through to the final. If the rules were followed, Comilla would have gone through yesterday.

Victorians captain Tamim, along with team officials, were seen engaged in a huge argument after the cut-off time was extended for two hours.

According to the Victorians captain the pitch was not ready for the match and he was not willing to play in such a situation yesterday, but the BPL officials were keen to continue the match. Eventually there was an announcement at the ground at 10:10pm that the match would continue from where it stopped.

Earlier, Rangpur got off to a flying start after being asked to bat despite losing the centurion of the previous game Chris Gayle when he went for a slog to off-spinner Mahedi Hasan but only managed to get a top edge and was caught out for three.

However, fellow opener Johnson Charles took charge and smashed four sixes and four fours. He was unbeaten on a 26-ball 46 alongside Brendon McCullum at the other end on four.