All-round Omarzai stars in Rangpur's win over Comilla

Azmatullah Omarzai's all-round performance helped Rangpur Riders get an eight-run win over Comilla Victorians in the ongoing Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) 2024.

It was Rangpur's third win in three matches and the win over the defending champions on Tuesday propelled them to number three in the points table.

Rangpur, led by Nurul Hasan, made a slow start to the tournament after losing two out of their first three matches. They made a superb comeback with two consecutive wins and Omarzai was instrumental in all of Rangpur's wins.

He was named the Player of the Match in Rangpur's first win in the tournament. Although Babar Azam won the award in the previous game, Omarzai's cameo of 32 off 15 gave them a strong finish. And on Tuesday, he was their saviour with both bat and ball, playing a much-needed cameo and taking two crucial wickets. 

Batting first, Rangpur Riders posted 165 after 20 overs. 

Opener Babar Azam, mostly tied down by the Comilla spinners, scored almost a run-a-ball 37 and Rangpur were off to a slow start. 

Fazle Mahmud, who was playing his first T20 in almost a year, scored a pretty confident 30 off 21 balls. 

Left-handed dasher Shamim Hossain was given a promotion to number four but he could not make it count, making a torturous 14 off 18.

Onus was again on Azmatullah Omarzai to give Rangpur a power-packed finish. 

The right-hander struck three fours and two sixes in his unbeaten 20-ball-36 and got great support in the middle order from Mohammad Nabi (13 off seven) and captain Nurul Hasan (15* off six).

Rangpur's attacking middle order added 68 in the final five overs to help them cross the 160-run mark.

West Indies all-rounder Raymon Reifer picked up two wickets for 20 runs while the left-arm spinning duo of Tanvir Islam and Khushdil Shah took one each. 

Mustafizur Rahman was expensive, giving away 48 runs in four overs. 

In reply, Comilla did not get off to the fastest of starts with Mohammad Rizwan and Mahidul Islam Ankon going about a run-a-ball in the second wicket partnership. Rizwan made 17 off 21 balls.

Number three Mahidul's (63 off 54) go-slow approach made the equation difficult for Comilla. 

They had too much work to do in the slog overs as the side led by Litton Das required 36 off the last two overs.

Hasan Mahmud gave away just seven in the penultimate over and so Jaker Ali's (18* off four) hitting in the final over against Shakib Al Hasan went in vain.

Both the teams were guilty of underutilising their resources as prominent T20 hitters like Mohammad Nabi and Khushdil Shah did not get enough balls to face.