Shakib Guides Rangpur Riders To The Top

Shakib Al Hasan came up with an all-round performance to help Rangpur Riders retain the top position in the ongoing Bangladesh Premier League as they beat bottom-placed Durdanto Dhaka a massive 60-run in Mirpur on Tuesday.

Shakib, who struggled with his batting in the tournament, returned to his favourite number three position on the day and struck a quick-fire 34 off 20 balls while he also picked 3-16 to earn the  man of the match award.

Babar Azam and Rony Talukdar also made 47 and 39 runs respectively along with Shakib to help Rangpur post 175-4 in 20 overs and later dismissed Dhaka for 115 runs in 18 overs to earn the victory.

Mahedi Hasan, Salman Irshad and Hasan Mahmud chipped in with two wickets to compliment Shakib and help Rangpur clinch their fifth win in the tournament.

It was also Rangpur’s fourth successive victory in the tournament after they made a slow start by winning only one game in their first three matches.

Babar and Rony gave the table-toppers a flying start in the contest by putting up 67 runs in the opening stand before Dhaka’s left-arm spinner Arafat Sunny dismissed the latter in the eighth over at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium.

Shakib, who was dropped on one by wicketkeeper Irfan Shukkur, then shared a 52-run stand with Babar to take their score over the 100-run mark.

The left-handed batsman started slowly in the innings as he made 11 runs off his first 14 balls but once he hit Mosaddek Hossain a boundary, he started to accelerate his innings.

Shakib then smashed Chaturanga de Silva for successive sixes in the next over while he also hit a six off Mosaddek before he was finally dismissed on 34 off 20 balls.