Under-19 pacer Qazi Onik made an impressive debut in the Bangladesh Premier League to claim 4-17, helping Rajshahi Kings to beat Chittagong Vikings by 33 runs at Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium on Wednesday.
Chasing a modest target of 158 runs, Chittagong were bundled out for 124 runs in 19.2 overs to see themselves out of contention for a place in the play-offs with just five points in 10 matches.
The win in what appeared to be a must-win contest for both sides took Rajshahi’s tally to eight points, keeping their faint hope of progressing into the play-off stage alive.
Skipper Darren Sammy struck 40 off 25 deliveries while Mushfiqur Rahim and James Franklin made important contributions to guide Rajshahi to 157-6 in their stipulated overs after they opted to bat first.
Chittagong lost in-form opener Luke Ronchi in the first over but Soumya Sarkar and Anamul Haque took them to 50 in quick time before Mustafizur Rahman removed Soumya for 13 to separate the pair.
Onik came to bowl in the eighth over of Chittagong innings and dismissed Anamul for 23 to trigger a collapse.
With five wickets falling for 100 runs, South African Stiaan van Zyl was carrying Chittagong’s last remaining hopes.
But Onik ended his innings at 27 thanks to a brilliant effort in the filed by Usama Mir and substitute Naeem Islam.
It left Chittagong reduced to 105-6 and they could never recover. Onik later added the wicket Sanjamul Islam (1) and Tanvir Hayder (13) to his tally to complete Rajshahi win.
Onik was ecstatic with his performance and wanted to deliver same performance if he was given further opportunity to play.
‘I am very delighted to perform well in my debut. I was waiting for the opportunity and I had the ambition to perform well when I got the chance to play,’ Onik told reporters after the match.
‘I really intended to give away less runs to complete my overs.
‘Sammy liked me during my bowling in the nets. He is a top-class player and he knows when a player should play.
‘After the match, he appreciated me for my bowling in the good areas. If I got an opportunity next time, I will try to deliver the same sort of performance,’ he added.
Left-arm pacer Mustafiz played his part in the win with 2-18.
Earlier, Rajshahi lost their wickets at regular intervals and were held to 86-4 by Chittagong bowlers at one stage after Luke Wright (25) and Mushfiqur (31) failed to convert their starts into big innings.
Man-of-the-match Sammy joined Franklin, who scored a run-a-ball 30, at the crease and both the batsmen added 69 runs for the fifth wicket.
But they failed to produce a late charge in the innings as Rajshahi batsmen could score 43 runs in the last five overs, leaving them content with a decent score.
Brief Scores
Rajshahi Kings 157-6 in 20 overs (Sammy 40, Mushfiq 31, Franklin 30, Wright 25; Reece 3-33) v Chittagong Vikings 124 in 19.2 overs (Van Zyl 27, Anamul 23; Onik 4-17, Mustafiz 2-18)
Result: Rajshahi Kings won by 33 runs
Man of the match: Darren Sammy (Rajshahi Kings)
Source: New Age.
