RED-HOT RIDERS BLOW AWAY CAPITALS TO SEAL FINAL BERTH
Defending champions Rangpur Riders survived a late scare from Dubai Capitals in the 8th match of the ExxonMobil Guyana Global Super League (GSL) on Wednesday morning at Providence.
The Riders eventually held on to chalk up their third win out of three with an 8-run win that sees them return to the top of the table and look in a strong position to defend their title.
After winning two close matches in their first brace of fixtures by 1 and 8 runs respectively, the riders were pushed close once more only to come out on top again.
Conversely Dubai Capitals came into the match having lost their last two matches by sizeable margins having defeated Central Stags on their first fixture, the only side below them in the tournament table.
Riders captain Nurul Hasan won the toss and chose to bat first, lower order runs from himself and eventual Player of the Match Iftikhar Ahmed helped get the Riders to a competitive total of 158/5 off their 20 overs with the captain opening his shoulders to hit consecutive sixes off Gulbadin Naib off the final two balls of the innings to head into the turnaround unbeaten on 34 off 18 balls and Iftikhar Ahmed finishing not out on 41 off 32.
The Capitals used a total of seven bowlers as they looked to keep their attack varied and the wickets were shared around by five different members of their bowling attack. Shakib Al Hasan the pick of the bowlers with one wicket for the frugal cost of 16 runs off his full set of four overs.
The Capitals reached 71/3 at the 10-over mark to leave themselves needing 88 from the final 60 balls, a recovery of sorts after they were reduced to 7-2 with Kadeem Alleyne castled by Kyle Mayers and Gulbadin chopping a ball from Iftikhar Ahmed onto the stumps.
The wheels came off the Capitals innings soon after, Sanjay Krishnamurthi was out to Rakibul Hasan in the 12th over and then they suffered a double wicket blow as Bangladeshi off spinner had dangerman Shakib Al Hasan stumped and pinned set batter Sediqullah Ata LBW to leave the Dubai side reeling on 85/6.
Some lusty lower order hitting from Dominic Drakes and Qais Ahmed saw the Capitals come back into it but wickets were falling as regularly as the boundaries. Ahmed and Drakes fell in quick succession with the target suddenly down to single figures.
The Capitals endured their third defeat at Guyana National Stadium, Providence which saw a certain end to their hopes of making the tournament final on Saturday. For Rangpur Riders, the GSL title defence is very much still in play.
For match photos from this game. please click here. This can be used for editorial purposes. CREDIT: GSLT20/Getty Images.
