Chittagong: Rangpur Riders clinched a last ball-thriller victory against bottom-run Chittagong Vikings for their 4th win in the 5th Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) at Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chittagong on Saturday.

Chasing a target of 177 runs, Rangpur shored their vessel to the winning destination scoring 180 for 7 in 20 overs with a six by Thisara Perera in the match's last ball off Taskin Ahmed.

Rangpur needed four runs in the innings last ball when Taskin delivered a wide ball which provided a great chance to Thisara Perera to pull the victory with the extra ball.

Thisara Perera played an unbeaten innings off 28 off 14 balls with three sixes, while man of the match Mashrafe Bin Mortaza quick-fired 42 off 17 balls.

Mortaza brought a fruitful change in the batting order as he himself came to bat at number 3 in place of the prescheduled batsman Mohammad Mithun and maintained the craft of T20 temperament pairing with the West Indian giant Chris Gayle for 60 off 4.2 overs in the 2nd wicket stand to carry the team total to 91/2 in 9.4 overs from 31/1 in 5.2 overs.

On the way of his four boundaries and three sixes, skipper Mortaza hit a huge six of 106 meter off Al-Amin in the innings 7.5 overs and was applaud by spectators for his nature of batting aside of bowling strength. Mortaza was bowled out by Sunzamul Islam to depart from 2nd pair.

Mohammad Mithun top-scored for the side with 44 off 29 balls, including 4 boundaries before being bowled out by Luis Reece, leaving the team total to 163/5 in 18.5 overs.

Chris Gayle was another notable scorer with 33 runs while opener Brendon McCullum (15) and Ravi Bopara (11) were the other double digit scorers for the side.

Luis Reece, Tanbir Hayder, Sunzamul Islam, Soumya Sarkar, Al-Amin and Taskin Ahmed bagged one wicket each conceding 13, 14, 23, 24, 29 and 38 runs respectively.

Sent in to bat first in the 28th match of the league on the day, Chittagong collected 176 for 7 in 20 overs where South African all-rounder Stiaan van Zyl dazzled with a half century of 68 off 40 balls, including three boundaries and four sixes.

Zyl was caught behind by Mohammad Mithun off Thisara Perera leaving his team total on 165/5 in 18.2 overs.

Besides his individual performance, Zyl shared a partnership of 76 off 7.3 overs with Sikandar Raza in the 4th wicket stand to carry the team total to 132/4 in 14.5 overs, starting from for 56/3 in 7.2 overs after the loss of their three top-order batsmen - opener-cum-skipper Luke Ronchii, Anamul Haque and Soumya Sarkar.

The 4th wicket stand saw an end as Sikandar Raza was caught by Shahriar Nafees off Rubel Hossain.

Soumya Sarkar was bowled out by Nahidul Islam scoring 30 off 26 balls, including two boundaries and two sixs, while Najibullah Zadran (25 off 16b; 2x4; 1x4), Sikandar Raza (22 off 19b; 2x4) and Luke Ronchii (11 off 5b; 1x4; 1x6) were the other double digit scorers for Chittagong.

Rubel Hossain, Nahidul Islam conceded four runs for one wicket in one over while Mashrafe Bin Mortaza, Thisara Perera, Lasith Malinga and Rubel Hossain bagged one wicket each for 24, 35, 37 and 39 runs respectively.

With the day's results, Rangpur Riders moved one step up from the 5th place collecting eight points from eight encounters. Rangpur registered four victories against four losses.

Chittagong stayed in the bottom place with five points from eight matches, having two wins, five losses and one no result.