Liton leads Comilla Victorians to its first victory

The defending champion Comilla Victorians defeated Chattogram Challengers by six wickets on Monday at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chattogram, snapping a three-match losing streak and earning their first victory in the ongoing Bangladesh Premier League 2023.

Mohammad Rizwan scored an undefeated 37 off 35 balls, and Liton Das scored 40 off 22 balls as Comilla comfortably reached 137-4 in 17.3 overs to begin their BPL campaign.

Jaker Ali Anik also made 22 runs while Khushdil Shah remained unbeaten on 10. Malinda Pushpakumara claimed 2-33 for Chattogram.

Earlier, Chattogram batters failed to get any momentum in their innings as they lost wickets at regular intervals and could make only 135-8 in 20 overs after they decided to bat first.

Chattogram skipper Shuvagata Hom made an unbeaten 37 off 23 balls while Afif Hossain and Max O’Dowd scored 29 and 24 runs respectively.

For Comilla, their spin trio – Tanvir Islam, Mosaddek Hossain and Khushdil took two wickets each.

This was Chattogram’s third defeat in five games and they are currently placed fourth in the seven-team points table with four points.

Chattogram innings saw two partnerships – one a 43-run stand between Afif and O’Dowd in the second wicket and the other one a 37-run stand for the eighth wicket between Shuvagata and Mehedi Hasan Rana (13) but apart from these two, there was nothing significant in their innings.

Comilla, who were at the bottom before the start of the play, then received a blazing start in the chase as Liton and Rizwan put up 55 runs with the former taking the most of the charge as he smashed four fours and three sixes.

Mrittunjoy Chowdhury removed Liton to break the stand but the target never produced any threat for Comilla as they reached home with ease with six wickets to spare.