Match overview
Rangpur Riders made short work of Noakhali Express at Shere Bangla National Stadium on 18 January 2026, chasing down 174 with 8 wickets in hand to win comfortably in the Bangladesh Premier League. Noakhali had posted 173/2 off their 20 overs, with a strong death-overs display that included 75 runs without loss in the final phase. Rangpur barely flickered in response. Their powerplay of 55 without loss set the tone, and they finished off the target losing only 2 wickets across the innings. Towhid Hridoy was named Player of the Match.
The result levels the head-to-head between these two sides at 1-1 for the season. Noakhali Express had beaten Rangpur Riders earlier in the BPL by 9 runs at Sylhet International Cricket Stadium, so this was a direct reversal. In terms of the broader standings, Noakhali's recent form makes for difficult reading: three defeats from their last five matches, against one win over Rangpur and one over Dhaka Capitals.
Rangpur, meanwhile, arrive at this result off the back of a mixed run. They beat Dhaka Capitals in their most recent outing before this fixture but had lost three of the previous four, including that defeat to Noakhali. This win carries some weight for them in terms of confidence and points.
Venue and conditions
Shere Bangla National Stadium in Dhaka is one of the most-used grounds in South Asian T20 cricket. Across 469 matches played there, the average first-innings score sits at 179 and the average second-innings score at 161. The gap between those figures indicates the pitch generally favours the side batting first, though the chase success rate of 54% tells a more nuanced story.
Powerplay scoring averages 39 runs at this venue, making Rangpur's 55 in the first six overs a significant outlier. Noakhali's powerplay of 33/1 was, by contrast, slightly below the ground's norm. Death-overs scoring averages 34, so Noakhali's 75 from the final phase was an exceptional burst. Had they posted that kind of total elsewhere in the innings, the target might have been beyond reach.
Teams winning the toss elect to field 59% of the time here, and Rangpur followed that trend. The logic is straightforward enough on Dhaka pitches: batting second with knowledge of the target, and potential dew making the ball harder to grip for bowlers in the second half of the match, tends to suit chasing sides. On this occasion the numbers played out as expected.
How to watch
The Bangladesh Premier League is available to UK viewers through subscription cricket streaming platforms. Sky Sports Cricket has historically carried BPL coverage, with matches accessible via Sky Go and NOW TV for those without a full satellite subscription. Matches in Bangladesh typically start at times that fall in the early afternoon or late morning for UK audiences depending on the fixture schedule, given the five-and-a-half-hour time difference from GMT.
It is worth checking current listings before each match as broadcast arrangements can shift across a tournament's duration.
Recent form
Noakhali Express come into this result having won two of their last five, with defeats against Chattogram Royals, Rajshahi Warriors, and now Rangpur Riders bracketing those victories. Their win over Dhaka Capitals was promising, but the inconsistency of their bowling, evident in the powerplay of 55 they conceded here, remains a concern.
Rangpur Riders' form has been similarly inconsistent. They lost to Sylhet Titans and Rajshahi Warriors in back-to-back fixtures and fell to Noakhali earlier in the campaign. The wins over Dhaka Capitals and now Noakhali, however, show they are capable of clinical performances. The ease of this chase, 174 reached with 8 wickets to spare, will give the squad confidence going into the next phase of the tournament.
