Allround Shakib fires Rangpur Riders to easy win over Dhaka Dynamites

Captain Shakib Al Hasan has put on a fine allround show to lead the Rangpur Riders to an easy 69-run win against Dhaka Dynamites in the Bangladesh Premier League.

Opener Lendl Simmons smashed a gritty 51 before some late fireworks from Shakib (24 not out) took the Riders to 176 for 6 in 20 overs at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium on Wednesday.

With the ball, Shakib took his first four-wicket haul in the BPL.

The Dynamites lost wickets regularly before folding for only 107 with two balls to spare to slump to their first defeat.

Sri Lanka's Thisara Perera, too, was superb with both the bat and the ball. He made a quickfire 20-ball 27 before taking three wickets.

Shakib took out openers Shamsur Rahman (2) and Nasir Jamshed (11) in his second over to peg the Dynamites back early in their chase.

The Dhaka franchise failed to recover from there and never threatened to reach the target.

The Riders' spinners tightened the screws on the batsmen as Kumar Sangakkara (29 off 28) perished under the pressure of the soaring required run rate.

Sangakkara swept Arafat Sunny square of the wicket straight to Soumya Sarkar near the boundary after the left-arm spinner had taken out Mosaddek Hossain (3).

They kept struggling for runs on their way to get over the 100-run mark before Abu Jayed Chowdhury finished things off with the last wicket in the final over.

Shakib returned 4 for 16 in 4 overs. His previous best in the competition was 3 for 19 for the Khulna Royal Bengals.

Perera took 3 for 25 while Sunny proved miserly with 2 for 15.

Earlier, Simmons and Soumya Sarkar (18) had given the Riders a good start after they chose to bat first.

Soumya freed his hands at the outset again, scoring four boundaries in his 10-ball innings. Two of those came off Mustafizur Rahman who got his man with an off-cutter in the fifth over.

But Simmons kept his foot on the gas by smashing Abul Hasan for two fours and a six in consecutive balls. He fashioned a crucial a 37-ball 56-run partnership with Mohammad Mithun (34 off 22 balls).

Mosharraf Hossain got the breakthrough by inducing a leading edge from Simmons before Hasan trapped Mithun leg-before.

With a solid base provided by the top order, the Riders promoted hard-hitters Perera and Darren Sammy (3) but Yasir Shah took out the latter soon.

Shakib, in at six, and Perera teamed up to haul their team past 150 before Mustafizur delivered another cutter to remove the Sri Lankan.

Shah returned 2 for 24 in 4 overs. Mustafizur took 2 for 38, while Hasan and Mosharraf chipped in with a wicket each.