The commentary is not available for this match. Please check the scorecard for latest updates.
That is it for this game. This is Probuddha Bhattacharjee signing off from this game on behalf of my co-commentator, Pradeep. Do stay tuned on Sportskeeda and enjoy the second game of the day in the tournament coming up soon.
Nurul Hasan (Rangpur Riders Captain): First of all it was a great game. We need to take more responsibility while batting. Especially the top-order need to more responsible. Our bowlers did a great job. Mahedi did a great job in the powerplay. Babar Azam is a class act, but as I said we need to take more responsbility at the top of the order in the next few games. Thank you!!!
Azmatullah Omarzai (Player of the Match): First of all I want to thank God. I batted with Babar Azam, a world class batter. His experience fed my the confidence to go on with the innings. At the beginning I was just trying to give the strike to Babar. I waited for the lose delivery and too advantage of it whenever they gave me that.
Mashrafe Mortaza (Sylhet Strikers captain): I think in this sort of wicket, 140 or 150 always looked at that and a special spell from Hemantha but we were short by 20 or 30 runs. Both combination is a must, we were good with the bat, but not with the ball, but today good with the ball and not with the bat. Just two games, we need to come back well, we need to gain the momentum and hopefully a win in the next game will do that.
Match End!!!!
Rangpur Riders have won the match by 4 wickets with 10 balls remaining in the game Sylhet Strikers - 120/8 (20 Overs) Rangpur Riders - 125/6 (18.2 Overs)
That brings us to the end of the match. An enthralling knock by Babar Azam to take his team home and ably complemented by Azmatullah Omarzai at the other end.
Earlier in the day, the Rangpur Riders won the toss and decided to field first. They had the opposition under the mat at 39 for 5 in the ninth over the innings. The spinners were used effectively by Nurul Hasan and it looked like the innings was going nowhere for the Strikers. But a 68-run partnership between Benny Howell and Ben Cutting meant that the Strikers got something to fight for in the second innings. At the end of their 20 overs they managed to score 120 runs for the loss of eight wickets.
The story was much the same for the Riders. Mashrafe watched the behavior of the wicket in the first innings and thus introduced the spinners early. They also kept losing wickets at regular intervals. It was Dushan Hemantha who catalyzed the destruction of the Riders’ middle-order with three wickets in the seventh over. At the end of seven, the Riders were struggling at 39 for 6. The onus was all on Babar Azam to bail his team out of the situation.
Babar got a decent partnership going along with Azmatullah Omarzai from this stage. The Riders kept progressing towards the target. At the end of the 16th overs, the Riders had 93 runs on the board with the duo still unseparated. It looked like the Riders would get through as Babar was playing a very calm and composed knock under pressure.
The duo stitched an unbeaten partnership of 86 runs off 68 delivers. They accelerated the march towards the win after the second Time out. In the end, Babar Azam remained undefeated at 56 off 49, while Azmatullah Omarzai was not out at 47 off 35 guiding the team to a four wicket win with 10 balls remaining in the game.
18.2 Richard Ngarava to Azmatullah Omarzai, SIX! GAME, SET AND MATCH! Azmat finishes the game in style as they came out of the dead and won the game in the end. Back of a length into the batter, Azmat hangs back and pummels it over wide long-on for a maximum.
18.1 Richard Ngarava to Babar Azam, OH! Back of a length on the off-stump, Babar hangs back and pulled it straight to short mid-wicket. Cutting fires the throw at bowler's end and concedes a single.
WHOA!!!! 16 runs off that over and the game is literally over. Great batting by the duo. They dug the team out from 39 for six to take the W here.
18
overs
118/6score
4
1
0
4
1
6
runs
Azmatullah Omarzai*
41(34)
Babar Azam
55(48)
Tanzim Sakib
1/36
17.6 Tanzim Hasan Sakib to Azmatullah Omarzai, SIX! BAM! Massive over for the Riders and they just need 3 now. Short into the batter, sits up nicely and Azmat clubbed it all the way over deep mid-wicket for a maximum.