Russell's explosive batting is a great win for Comilla

A little storm from Andre Russell with the bat. Comilla Victorians won by 6 wickets after 14 balls. In this victory, Comilla was confirmed to play the first qualifier from the top two with 16 points. These two teams will meet again in the first qualifier on 25th.

SBS Desk

February 20, 2024

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Russell's explosive batting is a great win for Comilla

Comilla controlled the match in the first innings at the Zahoor Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium. After winning the toss and sending Rangpur to bat first, Comilla's bowlers restricted them to just 150 runs. In reply, Comilla was responding well to Liton's 43 and Mahidul's 39 before Russell's last attack. The Caribbean hard hitter's innings of 4 fours and a six made the difference in the finish.

Earlier, when Rangpur's batsmen came and went in a procession, only Jimmy Neesham shone. Rangpur got capital of 150 runs in his innings of 69 runs from 42 balls. The innings was packed with 9 fours and 2 sixes. Shakib Al Hasan scored the second highest 24 runs for the team. Apart from this, only Roni Talukder, 14, has reached double figures. The rest were out in single digits. Rangpur suffered from random batting from the beginning.

Ronnie quickly returned to dressing room after opener Brendan King was dismissed for just 4 runs. Mahedi Hasan ended the innings by hitting 1 six. Captain Sohan has come and gone. Scored 2 runs. In 19 balls, 3 boundaries, Shakib was in his usual form but got too aggressive and gave away wickets. Besides, Tom Moores (8), Shamim Patwari (2), Abu Haider Rony (7) could not do well. Comilla's best bowler Mushfiq Hasan on the day when Neesham's batting shined. He took 3 wickets for 18 runs in 4 overs. Besides, Andre Russell also got 3 wickets. Matthew Ford bagged 2 wickets.

Chasing the target, Comilla lost a couple of wickets in one over of Shakib. After Sunil Narine was caught on the boundary, Tawheed Hridiya followed suit. From there Liton played responsible innings with Mahidul. Both scored 65 runs off 55 balls. But Comilla was under some pressure when two batsmen who were settled at a gap of 2 runs got out. But Russell stepped into the field and changed all the equations. He made the match easy by raining four sixes. Hasan Mahmood has burnt his batting cannon. The right-handed pacer scored two sixes and three fours for 24 runs. The match came to a close.

When 6 runs were needed for victory, this devastating batsman ensured the victory by hitting Mahedi for a six. He won the man of the match award for his all-round performance. Even though Rangpur lost, there was no change in the points table. They are at the top with 18 points from 9 wins in 12 matches. Comilla is in second place with 8 wins after playing one less match.