The most in-form teams in the Dhaka Premier League are Abahani Limited and Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club. Sitting atop the table as the top two teams, the clash between these two is the clash of titans. After winning the toss and electing to bat first, Abahani started with a stutter.

Indeed, opener Saif Hassan couldn’t come up with an inspirational performance as he got out for 8 runs. Sohag Gazi took his wicket. Nazmul Hossain Shanto came in next and didn’t trouble the scorers much for his 1 run.

Captain Nasir Hossain was the next to go after getting a start, making 11 runs from 23 balls before Elias Sunny outfoxed him. Mohammed Mithun also departed soon after making 14 from 28 balls. Anamul Haque Bijoy, meanwhile, gave his team a fine innings as he has made his first century in this year’s DPL.

After scoring 116 runs, batting brilliantly all the while, he got out to Robiul Haque. His dismissal has perhaps opened up the floodgates as Mosaddek got out next for 49 runs, who was soon followed by Mashrafe Mortaza after he made 6 runs.

At that time, it looked like Abahani wouldn’t be able to get a good score after all, but they did thanks to Mehidy Hasan Miraz and Sunzamul Islam. While Miraz scored 34 from 18 balls, Sunzamul scored 24 from 15 to take the score to 270 for 7 after 50 overs.

Robiul Haque took the most wickets for Sheikh Jamal, with three scalps to his name, but also gave away 47 runs in the 5 overs that he bowled. Jalaj Saxena, Elias Sunny, Sohag Gazi and Abu Jayed took a wicket each.

In response, Mashrafe Mortaza started off on a bad note as he bled 11 runs in his first over. He, however, made a comeback in his third over to get the wicket of Ziaur Rahman as he shattered his stump with a cunning ball.

Shykat Ali then set the stage on fire with a quick-fire 31 from 23 balls, but was halted by Mashrafe Mortaza, who once again cleaned another batsman’s stumps. Elias Sunny and Sohag Gazi were the next to go as they made 16 and 0, respectively.

Mehidy Hasan Miraz got the wicket of Gazi and Saqlain Sajib got the scalp of Elias Sunny. Tanbir Hayder was the next to go after making only 5 runs. At 129 for 6, things were looking dire for the Dhanmondi outfit, but the Nurul Show was yet to commence.

And when it did, it gave Abahani a mini heart-attack. The wicketkeeper, who is also the captain of Dhanmondi, made 83 runs from 61 balls. At one stage, it looked like he would win the game all by himself for his team, but he was stopped by Sunzamul Islam.

After that, it was just game over for Sheikh Jamal. Mashrafe Mortaza cleaned up the rest of the tail and ended up with 5 wickets in the match with Mehidy Hasan Miraz taking two wickets himself and Sunzamul and Saqlain Sajib getting a wicket each.