Rangpur was by Jimmy Neeshams all-round performance.

Jimmy Neesham came to Bangladesh on Friday and blew away Chittagong Challengers on the field today. Rangpur Riders won by 53 runs in his all-round performance.

Chasing the target of 211 runs, his Chittagong teammates failed to play an effective innings without Saikat Ali. Saikat played a great innings of 63 runs, in which he only narrowed the margin of defeat against Rangpur Riders. His team Chittagong Challengers lost by 53 runs against Rangpur.

Chittagong's innings stopped at 158 runs while chasing the maximum 211 runs of this year's BPL. The innings of 63 runs from 45 balls was arranged by Saikat with 6 sixes and a boundary for a four. Skipper Shubhagat Hom was unbeaten on 31 runs off 13 balls at the end.

Jimmy Neesham and Shakib Al Hasan took two wickets each for Rangpur. Kiwi all-rounder Neesham became the man of the match in the first match of this year's BPL with a blistering fifty with the bat and a cannon with the bowl.

Rangpur team management did not waste time. Reza Hendricks and Imran Tahir, two South Africans who set foot in Dhaka in the morning, were brought into the field today. Before them, Neesham and Tom Moore also joined the team yesterday. But the Hendricks-Neesham performance showed no sign of travel fatigue in the game.

Hendricks played a great innings of 58 runs off 41 balls in the opening. Neesham remained unbeaten on 51 runs from 26 balls by rampaging towards the end. Shakib-Nurul Hasan Sohan also played an effective innings with them. Thanks to which Rangpur threw the highest target of 212 runs in front of Chittagong. The highest score of this year's BPL is now 211.

Hendricks and Rony Talukder welcomed Rangpur captain Sohan's batting decision after winning the toss with a great start. In the opening pair, the two scored 61 runs off 41 balls. In the seventh over, left-arm spinner Nihaduzzaman brought Chittagong back through Roni. Rony scored 24 runs off 17 balls.

Rangpur started increasing the pace of runs in the second wicket. Hendricks made another great partnership of 60 runs from 32 balls with Shakib. Salahuddin Shakeel returned these two batters who became devastating in the 13th over. Shakib scored 27 off 16 balls and Hendricks scored 58 runs with 5 fours and 3 sixes.

Neesham-Sohan made 89 runs off 46 balls with a rampage in the fourth wicket. Sohan scored 31 off 21 balls and Neesham scored 51 off 26 balls with 5 fours and 3 sixes. Rangpur collected 211 for 3 wickets. Rangpur smoothed the way to confirm the last four in BPL. They are at the top of the table with 12 points from 6 wins after playing 8 matches.