Last-over miseries continue to haunt Sylhet Superstars

The ghost of last-over defeat has once again haunted Sylhet Super Stars as they suffered their third consecutive defeat in the Bangladesh Premier League by six runs yesterday. Shakib al Hasan produced another vital all-round contribution in the game as Rangpur Riders picked up their third win in four games.

Shakib had earlier stated that the wickets are getting slower by each game and low totals are becoming harder to achieve with the ball skidding and turning viciously. That’s exactly what happened yesterday when the Super Stars came on to bat. 

Wicket-to-wicket bowling without any experiment was enough for Rangpur who tightened the run flow and forced the Sylhet batters to play faulty shots and lose wickets. Shakib took just four balls to strike when he trapped Josh Cobb, for a golden duck, plumb in front with the score on one and later removed the dangerous Dilshan Munaweera in the fourth over. 

Mominul Haque finally looked in good touch but his 23-ball cameo ended with Thisara Perera hitting his front pad in the eighth over. Sylhet had already gathered 52 by that point and what should have been an easy task thereafter was made harder by their random experiment in the batting line-up.

Left-arm spinner Nazmul Apu came in at No 5 and lasted four deliveries before becoming Sachithra Senanayake’s only victim in the match. The wicket handed the momentum to Rangpur who topped all the nervy moments then onwards to eventually win the game.

Ravi Bopara, who bowled exceptionally well earlier (4-0-8-1), did not trouble much either, as Arafat Sunny fooled the English cricketer with his slider and hit him plumb in front to extend the panic in the Sylhet dressing room.

Nasum Ahmed, Nazmul Hasan and Nurul Hasan altogether produced just 21 runs as Sylhet skipper Mushfiqur Rahim found himself batting with No 10 Mohammad Shahid and 14 still needed off 12 balls.  

Darren Sammy, bowling his first over, cleaned up Shahid and left six to defend off the last over with Ajantha Mendis on strike. The Sri Lankan lasted just two more deliveries before mishitting 22-year-old right-arm quickie Abu Jayed at the hands of long-on as Mushfiqur stood marooned on 25 and Rangpur wildly celebrated their second last-over win in the tournament.

The match, however, seemed to be in Sylhet’s bag after they had bowled out Rangpur for a mere 109, courtesy of Shahid’s best T20 figures.  

Riders top-scorer Shakib struggled for his 33 off 37 balls as the southpaw struck just two fours and a six while none apart from Perera (21) and Lendl Simmons (13) made it to double digits.

Bopara used his slow pace to good effect to tie the run-rate as Shahid cashed in on the opportunity to bag four for 12 – but eventually the contributions were not enough to move Sylhet off the mark in the points table.