Sports Reporter :Rangpur Riders earned a hard-fought six-run win over Sylhet Super Stars in their low-scoring Twenty20 cricket match of the 3rd Bangladesh Premier League at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Mirpur on Thursday.Electing to bat first, Rangpur Riders scored 109 for the loss of nine wickets in the stipulated 20 overs and then they bowled out Sylhet Super Stars for 103 off 19.2 overs.Sylhet Super Stars made a shaky start as they lost their opener Jashua Cobb (0) when their score was five for the loss of one wicket.Shakib Al Hasan of Rangpur Riders gave his team for an early breakthrough as Jashua Cobb was trapped leg before wicket by left-hander spinner of Rangpur Riders.Then opener EMDY Munaweera was caught at the long-off by Thisara Perera off Shakib Al Hasan when Sylhet’s score was 31 for the loss of two wickets.Mominul Haque and Mushfiqur Rahim fought back but when Mominul Haque was trapped leg before wicket by Thisara Perera, Sylhet Super Stars faced under pressure and then they could not build any notable partnership.Mominul Haque notched up 29 from 23 balls hitting six fours before he returned to the pavilion when Sylhet’s total was 52 for the loss of three wickets.Mushfiqur Rahim led his team from the frontline but he did not get any support from other Sylhet’s batsmen.Mushfiqur Rahim remained unbeaten with 25. His 34-ball innings was ornamented with fours.Apart from Munaweera, Mominul, Mushfiqur , no Sylhet’s batsman could reach double-digit figures. Most of the Sylhet’s batsmen failed to face the tight and controlled bowling attacks by the bowlers of Rangpur Riders.Shakib Al Hasan grabbed three wickets at the cost of 31 runs while Abu Jayed bagged a couple of wickets instead of five runs. Shakib Al Hasan was adjudged the Man of the Match for his all-round performance.Darren Sammy, Thisara Perera, Sachitra Senanayake and Arafat Sunny took one wicket each for seven, 11, 15 and 27 runs respectively.Earlier, the batmen of Rangpur Riders failed to build any notable partnership.Ace all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan, Thisara Perera were the two notable batsmen for Rangpur Riders who could make notable individual scores.Shakib Al Hasan made 33 from 37 balls featuring two fours and a sixer before he was caught at the long-off by Joshua Cobb off Mohammad Shahid when Rangpur’s total was 108 for the loss of eight wickets.Earlier, Thishara Perera scored 21 from 20 balls including two sixes before he was bowled out by Ravi Bopara when Rangpur’s score was 80 for the loss of five wickets.Pacer Mohammad Shahid of Sylhet Super Stars played the key role to restrict Rangpur to a low-scoring total. He finished his superb spell as 4-1-12-4. Mohammad Shahid dismissed opener Soumya Sarkar for seven, removed Sachitra Senanayake for seven and dismissed Arafat Sunny for just three runs.Ravi Bopara, Nazmul Islam and Nasum Ahmed took one wicket each for eight, 11 and 15 runs respectively.
