BPL 2024 | Twitter reacts to Dre Russ carnage trumping Neesham heroics as Comilla outplay high-flying Rangpur

SportsCafe Desk

BySportsCafe Desk, SportsCafe Editor

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Rangpur Riders' eight-match winning streak came to an end against Comilla Victorians in Chattogram in their final round-robin clash of the season. James Neesham's unbeaten 69 singlehandedly took the Riders to a competitive 150 but Andre Russell's late carnage meant it was too little to defend.

Brief score: CV 151/4 (17.3) [Russell 43*(12), Das 43(42); Shakib 3/20] defeat RR 150 (19.5) [Neesham 69*(42), Shakib 24(19); Musfik 3/18] by six wickets

Tanvir Islam struck with his very first ball in the game for Comilla Victorians to send Brandon King packing for cheap in the second over thus setting the tone for the rest of the powerplay. Three more wickets followed within the next five overs, and it was only a brief rapid cameo from Rony Talukdar that took the score to 49/4 when the fielding restrictions were lifted. Nevertheless, experienced campaigners Shakib Al Hasan and James Neesham seemed to have taken over the onus of rescuing the team from the precarious situation and patiently stitched together a 29-run stand. However, once Musfik Hasan opened his account in the ninth over to get rid of the former Bangladesh skipper, the flow of wickets kickstarted yet again leading to a despicable-looking score of 107/9 with nearly four overs still to go. Meanwhile, Neesham had cruised his way to 31 and took charge thereon to ensure the Rangpur Riders got to a competitive score. Farming strike to protect Imran Tahir, the Kiwi struck two maximums and five boundaries in the 43-run 10th wicket partnership to end up unbeaten on 69 off just 42 deliveries and set a target of 151 for Comilla.

The Victorians in response got off to a flier, milking 14 runs from Abu Hider's opening rendezvous with the ball on the back of two boundaries by Litton Das and three wides. Sunil Narine reciprocated with three fours of his own in the ensuing over and the duo had raced to 36/0 in just four overs when Shakib took the Kookaburra in hand for a second over. Three wickets in two deliveries ensued followed by a one-run Imran Tahir over to restrict Comilla to 39/2 in the powerplay. Regardless, Litton kept plugging on thus allowing Mahidul Islam Ankon to get his eye in before the latter also upped the ante in an indomitable 65-run stand. It was Shakib who played spoilsport once again by having Litton hole out in the 14th over before Mahidul followed suit five balls later after a 29-ball 39 to leave the match in the balance with 48 to get off 33 deliveries. However, the stage was set for some Andre Russell heroics, and the Caribbean phenom obliged with a brutal takedown of Hasan Mahmud in the 18th over. He sent the ball to the ropes thrice and over the fence twice in the over before getting the winning runs with another maximum to practically seal a top-two finish in the league stage for the Victorians.

What a performance!

Shakib is king in BPL!

BPL sometimes ♥️

Hahaha! He will get them all?

Pata nhi!

He should have batted for a while!

He's brilliant all-rounder!

What a knock!

Good comeback there!

CV won it easily!

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