Amir shines again as Chittagong win nail-biter against Sylhet

Chittagong Vikings won by a run as Sylhet Superstars captain Mushfiqur Rahim failed to take three off Mohammad Amir’s last ball in the third match of this year’s Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) on Monday.

The controversial Pakistani bowler gave away only 19 in his allotted four overs after taking 4 wickets in the tournament opener yesterday against Misbah’s Rangpur, ESPNcricinfo reported.

With Sylhet requiring nine runs to win in the last over, Mushfiqur tried a scoop off the first ball but didn't connect well and could only take a single.

Ajantha Mendis missed the next two balls, before the batsmen ran a bye to the wicketkeeper - although Chittagong appealed unsuccessfully for obstructing the field.

Needing seven off two, Mushfiqur blasted the fifth ball to the cover boundary, but couldn't do so again, as Chittagong captain Tamim Iqbal fielded in the covers. The game ended on a high after it had started with an embarrassing controversy for the tournament.

After Chittagong had posted 180 for 5, with half-centuries for Tamim and Yasir Ali, Sylhet were quickly out of the blocks in their reply.

Dilshan Munaweera took revenge for the pasting he took with the ball by laying into Tillakaratne Dilshan’s first over, striking six consecutive fours.

He fell for 64 by giving midwicket an easy catch but only after hitting 13 fours and a six in his 30-ball knock.

Mominul Haque was out a ball later, leg-before to Saeed Ajmal in his attempt to play the reverse-hit.

Nurul and Mushfiqur added 55 together and get Sylhet within striking distance. But Nurul, Nazmul Hossain Milon and Mohammad Shahid got out within a short time, leaving 21 needed off the last two overs.

Tamim and Yasir added 79 runs for the second wicket with the captain completely dominating their time together. It seemed that Tamim's dismissal in the 13th over was due to Yasir's struggle to rotate the strike at that stage.

But Yasir made up for his early slowness by hitting four sixes and a boundary in his 52-ball 63, and more crucially he added 30 for the fourth wicket with Jeevan Mendis and another 42 runs for the fifth wicket with Ziaur – in less than three overs – before being run out from the last ball of the Chittagong innings.

Meanwhile, Barisal Bulls defeated Rangpur Riders by 13 runs in the fourth match of the tournament.