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Haider Ali spearheaded a moderate yet nervy chase as Chittagong Kings beat Rangpur Riders by five wickets to boost their chances of playoffs and in the process handing Rangpur their third straight defeat at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium on Wednesday. 

Rangpur struggled in most of their batting innings and ultimately were able to put 143-5 on the board. Chittagong got past that with 14 balls remaining thanks to Haider’s unbeaten 48 off 18. 

Opting to bat first, Rangpur lost three in the powerplay and failed to gain any momentum. They were 68-5 in the 13th over as Chittagong kept striking regularly. 

Iftikhar Ahmed and Mahedi Hasan then lifted Rangpur to a moderate total with their unbeaten partnership of 75 off 47. 

Iftikhar top-scored with an unbeaten 65 off 47 while Mahedi made 22 off 20. 

Things got tight for Chittagong in the run chase when they lost two early wickets of Lahiru Milantha and Graham Clarke in the powerplay. 

Parvez Hossain then held one end firm in his partnership of 34 off 27 and 43 off 34 runs with captain Mohammad Mithun and Haider, respectively. 

However, Rangpur saw a glimpse of hope when they saw the back of Parvez (41 off 43) and Shamim Hossain in consecutive overs. 

They needed 20 off the last three overs with the last recognised pair batting. But Haider then chose the fast way as he hit Akif Javed—Rangpur’s best bowler of the recent dates—for four consecutive sixes to finish things off for Chittagong in style. 

Haider later said that his plan was to target one or two overs. 

‘I did whatever I could in that situation,’ Haider told the reporters after their win. ‘The job became tough when wickets fell quickly. I banked on my basics. When the required run rate was about eight, my thinking was to cash in one to two overs.’ 

Chittagong now have 12 points with two matches remaining. They now have a shot at finishing in the top two. 

On the other hand, Rangpur have been finding it hard to get back on the winning track before the playoffs. 

Their batter, Saif Hassan, said that they lost their momentum. 

‘We won three matches even after Alex Hales went back,’ Saif told the reporters. ‘I think we’ve lost our momentum a bit. We have to bring back the momentum. We’ve got a match left; that’s very important. If we can win that, I hope we will get through to the final straight.’

Rangpur didn’t get the service of Khushdil Shah, as the Pakistani allrounder had been called back for his national team’s camp. 

However, a source said that they have been targeting some foreign recruits in the playoffs. 

‘We’ve been in contact with Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, David Warner, Tim David, and Asif Ali. Whoever is available, will come,’ said the source.