Mashrafe's Abahani ensure place in Super Six
While Bangladesh are preparing to take on India in the final of the Nidahas trophy, the Dhaka Premier League completed another one of its day of play with Abahani Limited stealing the show with their majestic performance.
Nazmul Hasan Shanto made a stunning 150 with Saif Hassan assisting him with a nicely-paced 94 before Nasir Hossain brought down a tornado on Shinepukur bowlers to smack 45 from 24 balls to take the score to 335/4 from 50 overs.
The Shinepukur bowlers were helpless as only two bowlers could grab wickets. Mohammad Saifuddin, who started brilliantly by conceding only 6 runs from his first 5 overs, finished with two wickets from 10 overs while giving away 50 runs. Naeem Islam Jnr also got two wickets, but gave away 73 runs in 10 overs.
In response, Shinepukur opener Fardeen Hasan Ony scored a fantastic 104 before leaving the pitch retired hurt. Shadman Islam scored 56 and Towhid Hridoy reached 83 from 72 balls. Shinepukur lost only three wickets, but couldn’t reach the target as they could manage to make 279 in their 50 overs.
Mashrafe Mortaza got two wickets while Nasir Hossain got the other one to seal the win for Abahani.
Meanwhile, a terrific all-round performance from Mahedi Hasan helped Gazi Group Cricketers beat Prime Doleshwar Sporting Club. Doleshwar batted first and could make only 186 in their 50 overs with Fazle Mahmud top scoring with 65 runs.
Mahedi Hasan might have taken only a wicket for Gazi Group, but he was super economical and gave away only 16 runs in his 10 overs. Fawad Alam took three wickets, Tipu Sultan finished with two while Kamrul Islam Rabbi and Nayeem Hasan took a scalp each.
In response, a superb 59 from Mahedi Hasan set the tone for the chase as they completed it with relative ease while Fawad Alam also made 46 runs, winning by 4 wickets and with 67 balls remaining.
In the final game, Khelaghar Samaj Kallyan Samity beat Prime Bank Cricket Club in a thrilling encounter that went on till the final ball. Prime Bank batted first and scored 261 in 49.5 overs with the help of a superb 94 from Al-Amin.
Mohammad Saddam took four wickets, Tanvir Islam picked three wickets, Robiul Islam managed to grab two scalps while the other one was taken by Masum Khan.
In response, Khelaghar had to struggle a lot to get the win. Amit Majumder and Ashok Menaria scored 71 and 63, respectively, but the final grind was done by Masum Khan’s 23-ball 36 as it was the match-winning knock.
Shoriful Islam grabbed four wickets while Emanul Haque Jnr and Nahidul Islam took a wicket each, but couldn’t stop Khelaghar from winning the game.
