Chittagong: Rangpur Riders beat Barisal Bulls by 12 runs for their 3rd victory in the 4th Bangladesh Premier League at Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium on Thursday.

Bulls required 20 runs in the last over with three wickets in hand, but Kamrul Islam Rabbi, Taijul Islam and Al-Amin Hossain returned to the pavilion, including two run outs, in a span of four deliveries off spinner Sohag Gazi.

Chasing a target of 176, Bulls were all out for 163 in 19.4 overs.

Jeevan Mendis played for highest score of 57 off 53 balls firing three boundaries and three over boundaries, before being caught by Mohammad Shahzad off Shahid Afridi's bowling at 135/5 in 17.3 overs.

Mendis paired with Nadif Chowdhury in the 4th wicket for a figure of 74 in 8.2 overs that carried the team total to 122/4 in 15.2 overs from 48/3 in 7 overs before Nadif was caught by Soumya Sarkar off Shahid Afridi's bowling. Nadif hammered three over boundaries off 25 balls for his 41 runs.

Thisara Perera scored unbeaten 17 while Shahriar Nafees added 12 for the side.

Sohag Gazi captured three wickets for 19 runs in 3.4 overs while Shahid Afridi and Rubel Hossain bagged two wickets each for 31 and 36 runs respectively. Liam Dawson took one for 16 runs in three overs.

Sent in to bat first, the day's man of the match 'Mohammad Mithun' hammered a fifty scoring 62 runs that led Rangpur Riders to score 175 for 6 in 20 overs in their 4th Match.

Besides his individual score, Mithun stayed with Liam Dawson in the 3rd wicket to form a partnership of 78 in 9.2 overs which carried the team total to 124/3 in 14.2 ovres from 46/2 in 5 overs. 

Thisara Perera departed the 3rd pair bowling out Mithun who fired six boundaries and two sixes off 44 balls.

Dawson scored 46 off 36 balls, including three boundaries and one six, before he was caught by Abu Hider off Rayad Emrit bowling at 165/5 in 18.5 overs. 

Pakistani hard hitter Shahid Afridi added 22 off 10 balls with one four and two sixes.

Riders faced early jolt by spinner Taijul Islam who dismissed two wickets -- Soumya Sarkar (14) and Mohammad Shahzad (14) -- respectively in 21/1 in 2.4 overs and 46/2 in 5 overs.

Delivering four overs each, Taijul Islam and Thisara Perera claimed two wickets apiece for 27 and 31 runs respectively. Rayad Emrit conceded 25 runs for one in four overs.

With the day's result, Riders collected six points from four matches having three wins and one loss to equal Bulls who gathered the points from five matches with three wins and two losses.

Rangpur Riders started their tournament journey with a huge nine-wicket victory over Chittagong Vikings followed by another nine-wicket win over Khulna Titans chasing the BPL lowest target of 45 runs before suffering the defeat against table topper Dhaka Dynamites by 78 runs. 

Barisal Bulls suffered humiliating eight-wicket loss against Dhaka Dynamites in their first match and bounced back with a six-wicket victory over defending champions Comilla Victorians, then outplayed Rajshahi Kings and Chittagong Vikings by four runs and seven wickets respectively.

On Friday's two matches at the same venue, Chittagong Vikings will play Rajshahi Kings at 1:30 pm while bottom-run Comilla Victorians face Rangpur Riders at 6:15 pm.