Rangpur Riders will have to hope Dhaka Dynamites beat Khulna Titans in the last league game of the tournament on Sunday evening to progress through to the BPL playoffs after they lost to Comilla Victorians by eight runs in Mirpur.
Rangpur fell eight short of a 171-target. Ziaur Rahman waged a fightback to make an unbeaten 21-ball 38, but it wasn`t enough. Mohammad Shahzad did a bulk of the scoring initially - he made 45 of Rangpur`s 57 runs. But the loss of four wickets in the process hampered their chase.
When Rashid Khan, the Afghanistan legspinner, had his hero Shahid Afridi stumped off a googly for a 19-ball 38, Rangpur were all but out of the contest. Rashid was the best bowler on the night, taking 3 for 13 off his four overs.
Earlier, Comilla werre driven by an 88-run stand in just 10.2 overs between Imrul Kayes and Khalid Latif. Imrul brought up his first fifty this season; he made 52 off just 35 balls with seven fours and two sixes, while Latif struck 43, before the middle order stumbled to ensure they finished with far less than they should have got.
For Rangpur, Arafat Sunny and Rubel Hossain took two wickets apiece while Afridi had one.
Source: ESPNcricinfo