A massive crowd turned up at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur on the weekly holiday yesterday, but first match hardly produced any entertainment for them, except for some clean hitting from West Indies batsman Marlon Samuels, which gave Comilla Victorians a facile nine-wicket victory against Rangpur Riders.

The spate of low-scoring matches continued as Sri Lankan veteran Nuwan Kulasekara, along with young local paceman Abu Hider Rony, wrapped up Riders' innings for 82, which Victorians romped past in 11.5 overs, thanks to an unbeaten 24-ball 42 from Samuels. The elegant West Indian smashed eight boundaries and a six to sign off his BPL campaign in style and return to his national duties.

However, it was Kulasekara who did the major damage to Riders in the first innings, with figures of 4 for 12 while Rony claimed two for 15 to pave the way for Victorians' third win in four matches as they topped the table.

Apart from the issue related to the behaviour of the pitches, the post-match briefing was dominated by questions regarding the absence of Riders' skipper Shakib Al Hasan, who was suspended for one match for breaching BCB's Code of Conduct during his side's fixture against Sylhet Superstars on Thursday.

Mashrafe Bin Mortaza, captain of the Victorians, made it clear that one could not blame the pitch for below-par scores. He further said that his side deserved the victory while admitting that the absence of Shakib did give them an edge. Mashrafe opined that a score of around 150 was possible on the pitch, adding that these type of pitched will not help Bangladesh's preparations for next year's Asia Cup and ICC World Twenty20.

“There is no doubt that nothing could have been better if we got sporting wickets, but at the same time it's also a challenge for batsmen to adjust with such conditions,” said the Bangladesh skipper in ODIs and T20s.

Regarding Shakib's recent on-field transgression and suspension, Mashrafe said that everybody should abide by the rules.

“There are rules for everything and if someone crosses the line he must get punished no matter how big a player he is. I think it was unfortunate for Shakib as well as his team.  Maybe he could not check his emotions and excitement at that time. Everybody learns from mistakes and I hope he (Shakib) will not do anything like that in future,” said Mashrafe.

“Personally I never like to talk regarding any decision from umpires because the umpire's decision is final. Yes, you can make an argument but you must follow the procedure,” he added.

Riders' coach Shane Jurgensen, however, was frustrated as his side failed to step up in the absence of Shakib.

“He (Shakib) is a pretty good player and his all-round skills may have put us out of it in terms of the balance of the team, but at the same time, I thought it was an opportunity for the other boys to step up and have a good game. But unfortunately we didn't really execute our plan and they [Comilla Victorians] executed theirs better,” said the former Bangladesh coach.