BPL 2017, Match 20 Preview: Rangpur Riders vs Comilla Victorians

Two of the game’s greatest cricketers will be taking the center stage for the Rangpur Riders on Saturday as they take on the Comilla Victorians. In the last five days, The Riders haven’t played a single game and it’ll be interesting to see if there’ll be any signs of rustiness. Well, there will be a few games coming in a very short span of time and they need some points to escalate their position towards the top of the table.

Brendon McCullum and Christopher Henry Gayle are ready to get back with the side and skipper Mortaza will be delighted with that. Mohammad Nabi and his team have so wonderful thus far this season and with the Afghan duo of Nai and Rashid Khan spinning a web, not many are getting the better of them easily.

This will be a tightly contested encounter with a lot of firepower existing on both sides. Victorians have some wonderful bowlers and in reply, the Riders have few absolute legends in their lineup. The tournament is heading towards the halfway mark and both sides would love to collect a couple of points here.

Toss: Rangpur Riders won the toss and elected to field first

Rangpur Riders (Playing XI): Brendon McCullum, Chris Gayle, Ravi Bopara, Mohammad Mithun(w), Shahriar Nafees, Rubel Hossain, Thisara Perera, Mashrafe Mortaza(c), Sohag Gazi, Nazmul Islam, Abdur Razzak

Comilla Victorians (Playing XI): Tamim Iqbal(c), Liton Das(w), Imrul Kayes, Jos Buttler, Shoaib Malik, Marlon Samuels, Mohammad Saifuddin, Al-Amin Hossain, Mahedi Hasan, Hasan Ali, Rashid Khan

Focus will be on

Chris Gayle (Rangpur)

One of the game’s most explosive cricketers, Chris Gayle is touted as the god of T20 cricket. The only cricketer with over 10,000 runs in the shortest format, Gayle has time and again proven that he’s a champion batsman. A new challenge awaits ahead of him in the lands of Bangladesh and considering he’s had a good time here previously, the fans would be hoping for some more action coming from his willow.

Imrul Kayes (Comilla)

In the last few months, Imrul Kayes’ place in the national side has been a confusion. He barely got opportunities and with his exploits in this edition of the BPL, he will be making a strong case to get back into the main side. Kayes has earned tremendous amount of respect with his performances thus far and he will be looking to add more to his tally this season.

Playing combinations

Rangpur Riders

The world will be gearing up to see Brendon McCullum and Chris Gayle open the innings on Saturday and it’ll be quite a treat to the eye. Mohammad Mithun will come in at 3, to go with English all-rounder Ravi Bopara, Shahriar Nafees, Thisara Perera, and bowling all-rounder Ziaur Rahman coming in the middle order.

Skipper Mashrafe Mortaza and the Lankan wizard Lasith Malinga will be leading the lines for their bowling attack. They have three decent spinning options in Abdur Razzak, Ziaur Rahman, and Nazmul Islam and it’ll be interesting to see how the skipper shuffles them. Ravi Bopara and Thisara Perera are the other valuable resources in the kit bag for Mashrafe.

Comilla Victorians

Tamim Iqbal coming back is such a boost for their side. He’ll open the innings with Liton Das and coming in at three will be the in-form Imrul Kayes. Jos Buttler has been in good nick as well and accompanying him in the middle order are Marlon Samuels, Mohammad Nabi, Dwayne Bravo, and Mohammad Saifuddin.

Skipper Nabi and Rashid Khan have been the stand out bowlers thus far. They have three decent speedsters in Dwayne Bravo, Mohammad Saifuddin, and Al-Amin Hossain, who can win games on their head on their day. Arafat Sunny and Marlon Samuels are the other part-timers available in the XI.

StatAttack

18,816 – Chris Gayle and Brendon McCullum are the top two run-scorers in T20 history respectively and in aggregate, they’ve clobbered 18,816 runs.

3.94 – Rashid Khan, with an economy just under 4, has the best economy for any bowler this season.