A Shakib-less Rangpur Riders won the toss and sent the Sylhet Strikers to bat first. Although Najmul Hossain Shanto produced an elegant boundary off the second ball, Mahedi Hasan drew early blood from the other end after dismissing Mohammad Mithun in the second over. Mashrafe Mortaza, who came to bat at no. 3 found himself stuck in a schoolboyish run-out inside the powerplay. Subsequently, Yasir Ali tried to counter the opposition by smashing two back-to-back boundaries at the start of the fifth over but failed to extend the assault as Mahedi Hasan outfoxed him at the brink of powerplay. The struggle continued for the batters as Zakir Hasan and Shanto followed suit post-field restrictions. With the scoreboard reading 39/5 after 8.2 overs, Benny Howell and Ben Cutting notched up 37 runs each and added 68 runs together to help the Strikers reach 120/7 at the end of 20 overs.