Rilee Rossouw propels Rangpur Riders to 169 against Khulna Titans

Dhaka- South African cricketer Rilee Rossouw scored a half century to take defending champions Rangpur Riders to 169 runs for 3 in the 6th version of the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) against Khulna Titans at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Mirpur on Sunday.Khulna Titans made their first appearance in the new season with the holders.

Rilee and Mehedi Maruf added 18 runs in the opening stand for the Riders. Mehedi failed to impress with the bat as he fell for five while facing Ali Khan, the only USA representative in the BPL.

Alex Hales and Mohammad Mithun added 15 and 19 respectively but failed to maintain their good start. If they had not failed to continue good start, Riders would have managed more run in the board.

Alex fell prey to Zahir Khan, the Afghan China-man bowler, and Mohammad Mithun was hunted by West Indian T20 captain Carlos Brathwaite.

At the end of the innings, Rangpur were blessed with a total of 169 for three thanks to the fourth wicket stand of Rilee and Ravi who added 104 runs in the partnership. Rile remained unbeaten on 76 off 52 balls while Ravi made an unconquered 40 off 29 balls.

At the end of 14 overs, Riders scored 94 for three wickets and in the last six overs, they added 75 runs on the board which eventually helped them have a challenging total.

Ali Khan, Zahir Khan and Carlos Brathwaite took one wicket each for the Titans. No local player of Khulna had been able to take a wicket in the match.

In the first match of the league, Rangpur Rider conceded a three-wicket defeat against Chittagong Vikings in which Englishman Ravi Bopara was the only man to show some T20 prowess scoring 44 runs.