Shakib leads Rangpur Riders to win against Sylhet Superstars

Shakib Al Hasan's fine show with the bat and the ball has again fired Rangpur Riders to a thrilling last-over win by six runs against Sylhet Superstars in the Bangladesh Premier League.

After losing their last two matches by just one run, the Superstars suffered a third straight defeat on a sluggish Mirpur track on Thursday.

Shakib played a crucial knock of 33 to help the Riders post a below-par 109 for 9 before taking three wickets to end the chase on 103 at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium.

The top all-rounder was adjudged Man-of the-Match for a second successive time, after sinking Dhaka Dynamites by scoring 24 and taking four wickets on Wednesday.

The Riders needed early wickets to defend the paltry score and the skipper did the job. 

He trapped Josh Cobb (0) in front in the first over before taking out the dangerous Dilshan Munaweera (17 off 11 balls) in his second.

Mominul Haque then played some dazzling shots to score 29 off 23 balls with six boundaries to take the Superstars to a good position on 53 for 2 in the eighth over.

But he was adjudged leg-before despite an inside edge that started a slide. The following batsmen failed to score double-digit runs.

Captain Mushfiqur Rahim (25 off 34 balls) watched his partners fall at the other end as the Riders kept picking up wickets.

They changed their batting order to try and arrest the slide but the strategy failed.

Needing 14 runs off the last two overs, Mohammad Shahid (4) swung hard at Darren Sammy to give an edge that raced to the boundary before the Caribbean all-rounder knocked back the middle stump in the next ball.

Last man Ajantha Mendis (3) managed three more in the penultimate over but Mushfiq would regret responding to a single in the last ball of the over.  

In the second ball of the last over, Mendis mishit Abu Jayed Chowdhury for a catch at long-on as Mushfiq watched his team suffer another defeat from the other end. 
Shakib returned 3 for 31, while Chowdhury took 2 for 5.

Earlier, the Rangpur team, too, had lost wickets regularly but a determined Shakib held on to one end.

The Riders could not produce enough momentum. They managed to go past 100 only for Shakib's patient 37-ball innings. 

Shakib struggled for timing through his entire innings that stretched from the third over to the 20th. He fell to Shahid in a double-wicket maiden.

Opener Soumya Sarkar (7) went back early again when he tried to steer Shahid only to give an edge to Mushfiq in the third over before Lendl Simmons (13) ran himself out putting the Riders under pressure.

Southpaw Nasum Ahmed struck in his first over grabbing the crucial wicket of Mohammad Mithun (4).

The partnership between Shakib and Jahurul Islam (8) promised much but the latter was run out for some poor calling between the pair.

Thisara Perera (20-ball 21) launched compatriot Mendis for two huge sixes before getting his stumps rearranged by Ravi Bopara.

Shahid was the pick of the Superstars' bowlers with 4 for 12 in 4 overs. Bopara was very miserly, returning 1 for 8 in 4 overs, giving away one more than Jacob Oram's record 7 off 4 overs.