Perera's last-over magic

Rangpur Riders pulled off a thrilling three-run win against Dhaka Dynamites in a Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) match at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur yesterday.

Thisara Perera bowled a fantastic last over, where he conceded just six runs and took the wickets of Kieron Pollard and Abu Hider Rony, thus rendering Dhaka skipper Shakib Al Hasan's five for 16 futile.

Rangpur turned the match on its head in the last three overs when Rubel Hossain, Lasith Malinga and Perera bowled magnificently.

Dhaka, chasing Rangpur's modest 142, needed 16 off the last three overs with Kieron Pollard and Mehedi Maruf at the crease. But Rubel bowled beautifully to concede just three runs in the 18th over and also clean bowled Maruf for 15.

Then Malinga, who was wayward before bowling the penultimate over, took the wicket of Nadif Chowdhury, leaving Dhaka needing 10 runs from the last over with two wickets in hand.

With Pollard on strike, Dhaka still had a great chance to win but he refused two singles against Perera, which swung the equation in Rangpur's favour.

Pollard hit the third ball, a full toss from Perera, for a massive six over midwicket, leaving the equation at four runs from three deliveries.

But as was the case in the previous game, where Rangpur pulled off a victory in similar fashion against Sylhet, Perera clean bowled Pollard with the fifth delivery after the gigantic West Indian right-hander refused to take a single off the fourth delivery too.

The Sri Lankan right-arm pace bowler sent Rangur Riders into a frenzy when he bowled Abu Hider with the last ball of the match.

It was Rangpur's third win from six games that brought them into contention for a place in the play-offs. On the other hand, it was Dhaka's second defeat in a row after their four-wicket loss against Comilla Victorians.

Earlier sent in to bat, Rangpur Riders rode on Chris Gayle's 28-ball 51 to post 142. Gayle hit five fours and four sixes. But apart from the West Indian the rest could not do justice to their name.

His opening partner Brendon McCullum was dismissed for six while Mohammad Mithun scored the second-highest 22.

Skipper Mashrafe, who promoted himself to number five, struck a six and a four but he too failed to change his side's fortunes as he was dismissed on 15 runs off 11 balls by Afridi.

Gayle was lucky after being dropped on seven by Hider, he punished the Dhaka bowlers as he reached his second fifty of this BPL season off just 26 balls and later lashed Afridi for a huge six over long-on. But the West Indian was dismissed two balls later on 51 runs, which included five fours and four sixes, by Mosaddek Hossain.

In their chase, Dhaka looked well-placed at 128 for six before they choked at the death.

It was the last game of the Dhaka leg before the BPL shifts to Chittagong. The Chittagong leg will start on November 24 after a two-day break.