AI Simulation, HH vs RR | Tabraiz Shamsi spell and Nurul Hasan's finish helps Riders emerge victorious

‌‌Pitch and Weather

The surface at the Providence Stadium in Guyana was once again a slow and dry surface, which was a big challenge for the batters. While the spinners got a lot of grip and turn, the pacers were successful when mixing up their pace on the surface.

Though the reports suggested that there might be some rain, the conditions were surprisingly warm and humid with no interruptions. There was also some dew late in the evening that affected the playing conditions a bit.

Toss

Rangpur Riders won the toss and elected to bowl first.

Lineups

Hobart Hurricanes: Ben McDermott (c & wk), Jake Doran, Macalister Wright, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Nikhil Chaudhary, Mohammad Nabi, Fabian Allen, Odean Smith, Jackson Bird, Billy Stanlake, Usama Mir.

Rangpur Riders: Mahidul Islam Ankon, Soumya Sarkar, Yasir Ali, Saif Hassan, Nurul Hasan (c & wk), Kyle Mayers, Iftikhar Ahmed, Azmatullah Omarzai, Harmeet Singh, Tabraiz Shamsi, Khaled Ahmed.

Match Report

Riders’ skipper Nurul Hasan won the toss and chose to field first owing to the dew factor on the day. While Hurricanes' openers Ben McDermott and Bhanuka Rajapaksa gave the team a decent start, the side struggled to capitalise on it in the middle overs. The BBL champions lost wickets at regular intervals thanks to amazing spells from Shamsi and Harmeet Singh. While the South African left-arm wrist-spinner finished with figures of 3/19, taking the important wickets of Rajapaksa, Nikhil Chaudhary, and Mohammad Nabi, Singh contributed with a couple of scalps as well. At the death, Afghan pace-bowling all-rounder Azmatullah Omarzai (2/25 in four overs) and Khaled Ahmed further piled on the misery, and restricted Hobart's total to 147/9. 

Rangpur Riders struggled at the start of their innings, losing both openers Saif Hassan and Soumya Sarkar early in the powerplay. However, the situation improved in the middle overs when batters Kyle Mayers (28 off 17) and Yasir Ali (44 off 32) formed an important third-wicket partnership to bring them back in the game. But just when they seemed to have seized the momentum, the Boys in Purple got a sniff back in the game with a great 15th over by Usama Mir who dismissed both the set batters. Unfortunately for the Hurricanes, skipper Nurul Hasan and Mahidul Islam Ankon took the game away from them thereafter with some brilliant shotmaking. In the end, the defending champions needed only five runs in the last over bowled by Billy Stanlake. Nurul ensured there were no late nerves with a massive six over long-on off an attempted yorker by the tall Aussie pacer, resulting in a five-wicket victory for the team with five balls to spare.

Player of the Match

While the batters were the ones who finished the game off, it were the bowlers who set the tone for the Rangpur franchise. Thus, left-arm wrist spinner Tabraiz Shamsi was adjudged the player of the match for his incredible three-wicket haul.

Scorecard