Subdued Shakib in the final as Atlanta Fire lose Atlanta Open title

Shakib Al Hasan's Atlanta Fire missed out on the trophy after a disappointing performance in the Atlanta Open final in the United States, losing to Prime Gladiator by 24 runs.

Shakib, Bangladesh's experienced all-rounder, had produced an excellent performance in the semi-final to take his team into the final, raising expectations for the title match. In the final, however, he could not live up to those expectations.

In Monday's final, Shakib's side lost the toss and were put in to bowl first. Atlanta came under pressure from the start with uncontrolled bowling, and Prime Gladiator took full advantage to build a large total.

Gladiator scored 207 runs for the loss of 6 wickets in their innings. That mountain of a total largely decided the course of the final.

The main architect of Gladiator's big total was Matthews Tromp, whose century carried the team past two hundred.

Tromp scored 103 runs from 56 balls, hitting 2 fours and 10 sixes. Atlanta's bowlers found no effective answer to that destructive innings.

Shakib himself was also subdued with the ball. He bowled 4 overs and conceded 47 runs without taking a wicket.

Chasing a target of 208, Atlanta never got going. Losing wickets at regular intervals steadily increased the pressure of the chase.

Atlanta's innings eventually stopped at 183 for 8 wickets. Shadley van Schalkwyk top-scored for the team with 47 runs.

Shakib could not do much with the bat either. He scored 16 runs from 10 balls before departing, which was not enough for victory.

For Gladiator, Golam Mudassor Khan, Pranab Bhattad and Shubham Ranjane were successful with the ball, taking 2 wickets each.

In the end, Prime Gladiator secured the title with a 24-run win. After a bright semi-final performance, stalling in the final was undoubtedly a major disappointment for Atlanta Fire and Shakib.