Hales-Rossouw record partnership wins it for Riders

Rangpur Riders batsmen Alex Hales and Rilee Rossouw strung together a 174-run second-wicket partnership to help the side post a 239-run total -- the highest score in all editions of Bangladesh Premier League till date -- and win by 72 runs against the Chittagong Vikings at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chattogram today. With this win Mashrafe Bin Mortaza's Rangpur ended a 5-match winning streak of Mushfiqur Rahim's Chittagong.

Being sent in to bat first, after losing opener Chris Gayle in the second over of the game, Hales and Rossouw struck the home side bowlers all around the park as both the batsmen scored centuries – the first time in the history of BPL that saw two different centurions in an innings, while it is the third instance of such occurrence overall in T20 cricket. The 174-run partnership between the two is the third highest partnership by runs in the history of BPL. Hales looked exquisite for his 48-ball 100-run knock, laced with 11 boundaries and five sixes before falling prey to Chittagong's Sikandar Raza. However, Rossouw authored an unbeaten 51-ball 100-run knock and retained the top spot in the most run-getters' list in this edition of BPL with a total of 459 runs in nine matches so far.

Coming in to chase the mammoth total, despite Chittagong opener Yasir Ali's heroic 48-ball 78-run knock, the home side fell short as they could only manage 167 for the loss of eight wickets in 20 overs.