DHAKA, Bangladesh, CMC – West Indies star Andre Russell had little to do as his Rajshahi Royals rolled Johnson Charles’s Sylhet Thunder by eight wickets in the fifth match of the Bangladesh Premier League here yesterday.
Opting to bowl first at the Shere Bangla National Stadium, Russell got the breakthrough for Royals when he trapped opener Rony Talukdar lbw for 19 in the fourth over with Thunder racing along at 35 in the power-play.
The strike was the right-arm pacer’s only success, however, as he sent down 3.3 overs which cost 25 runs.
Charles, meanwhile, made 16 from 10 balls at the top of the order before perishing in the fifth over with the score on 41, and it was left to captain Mosaddek Hossain and Mohammad Mithun, with the joint top score of 20, to rally their side up to 91 all out off 15.3 overs.
In reply, Liton Das slammed an unbeaten 44 from 26 deliveries in a 62-run second wicket stand with Afif Hossain (30) to lift Royals to victory after they lost Hazratullah Zazai to the third ball of the innings without a run on the board.
On Thursday, West Indies opener Lendl Simmons, fresh from his outing against India in the recent three-match T20 series, struck 26 in a 45-run opening stand with fellow Windies batsman Chadwick Walton (18) but their Chattogram Challengers – also featuring West Indies seamers Kesrick Williams and Rayad Emrit – went down to Khulna Tigers by eight wickets.