Rangpur Riders Pakistani super star Babar Azam promised to deliver ahead of their second game against Sylhet Strikers in the ongoing Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur on Tuesday.

Babar hardly looked tired despite his long journey from New Zealand as he blazed with his bat to guide his team to their first win in the country’s lone ongoing franchise-based T20 tournament.

Rangpur, who lost the opening game to Fortune Barisal, were in trouble against Sylhet Strikers in their second game as they were reduced to 39-6 before Babar along with Azmatullah Omarzai put up unbeaten stand of 86 runs to take their side home at the end as they reached Rangpur to 125-6 in 18.2 overs after restricting Sylhet to 120-8.

Babar made an unbeaten 56 off 49 balls while Azmatuallah Omarzai also made an unbeaten 47 off 35 balls to help their side hand over Strikers their second successive defeat in the tournament.

It can be a big relief for Rangpur considering the fact they have lost their ace all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan for a couple of matches as he is undergoing eye treatment in Singapore.

Babar seemed to be well aware of what to expect in BPL and planned his innings accordingly that showed the class he possesses that forced everyone to consider him as one of the best batsmen in the world at present.

“I think the biggest challenge here is spin. There are good spin tracks here and everyone here is a quality spinner. Other than that, this is my second time here and first time that I am playing for Rangpur Riders so it’s exciting and looking forward to it,” Babar told T Sports before going into the field with Rangpur jersey on this day.

“Well… very long flight and I had to take two flights to reach here before taking some rest. Preparing myself for the match and looking forward to the match,” he said.

“The expectation is always high when we are playing and will try my best to win this match,” the former Pakistan skipper said and later delivered as per his promise. Babar added that his first experience in Bangladesh is not something that he cherishes but he learnt a lot playing in the BPL in a previous edition.

“The first time I came here was with the Pakistan team. Not good memories but from BPL I learned a lot. When we are playing here, we learn from different conditions,” he said adding that the wicket of SBNS always remained a mystery to him.

“We have played lots of matches here but to be honest I am not going to tell you about the behavior of the pitch and every time it’s different,” he said adding that he is looking forward to team up with Shakib in the coming days.

“He (Shakib) is a legend and a very experienced player so it’s good for us that we have Shakib in the team,” he concluded.