Nepali leg spinner Sandeep Lamichhane’s miserly bowling played a vital role in Sylhet Sixers’ second victory in the Bangladesh Premier League in Sylhet on Wednesday. 

Lamichhane, who had to sit in the dugout in Sixers’ humiliating eight-wicket loss against Comilla Victorians on Tuesday, took 1-18 from four overs as his side overcame Rangpur Riders by 27 runs. The win lifted Sixers to sixth from the pit bottom of eight-team Twenty20 tournament.

Put in to bat first, Liton Das’ enterprising 43-ball 70 and skipper David Warner’s quickfire 61 off 36 balls guided Sixers to an imposing 187-5 from Twenty20 overs. Although Mehedi Hassan Rana and Taskin Ahmed picked up two wickets for Sixers, tight bowling figures from Lamichhane and Pakistani left arm pacer Sohail Tanveer play a crucial role in restricting Riders to 160-6.

Barring the figures of 0-33 against current leaders Dhaka Dynamites, Lamichhane so far has been exceptional in the tournament. He had begun the tournament by taking 2-16 against the Victorians another tight 0-21 against Chittagong Vikings. He is now among the nine most economical bowlers of the tournament so far. 

In the match on Thursday, Warner handed the ball to Lamichhane in the seventh over at a stage when Riders were staging a recovery at 62-3. With Mohammad Mithun and Rilee Rossouw scoring fluently, Lamichhane began by conceding just six runs in his first over. He came back in the ninth over and gave away just five runs. 

With two free-flowing batsmen kept at check, Warner put faith on Lamichhane in the 11th over and paid back by giving away just four runs. At a crucial stage when Riders needed 52 runs from last four overs with both Roussouw and Mithun gone, Lamichhane came back and bowled effectively conceding just three runs and clean bowling Ben Howell (13).

That over from Lamichhane gave Sixers a stranglehold in the game as Tanvir and Rana negotiated with the defence as Riders ultimately fell 27 runs short. Sixers will now take on table toppers Dynamite in their sixth match on Friday.