Prime Bank, Abahani both lose, face off in title decider

Abahani Limited and Prime Bank Cricket Club both lost their respective super league matches in the Bangabandhu Dhaka Premier Division Cricket League Twenty20 in Mirpur’s Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium Thursday.

Only one round of matches is remaining now in the super six stage and both Abahani and Prime Bank have 22 points from 15 games.

These two teams will lock horns in the last round of the super league Saturday morning in Mirpur, and that will be the title-decider.

Prime Bank v Doleshwar

Prime Bank opted to bat first in the evening match against Prime Doleshwar Sporting Club.

But in the end it was a poor batting effort from Prime Bank as they managed to score only 125 runs losing all of their wickets in 19.5 overs.

Opener Rony Talukdar scored 59 off 41 balls with eight fours and one six and Nahidul Islam made 27 in the middle-order with one four and a six.

Apart from these two, no other batsmen from Prime Bank managed to reach double figure, or even strike a boundary.

Eventually they were all out for a below-par score of 125.

Shafiul Islam took four wickets for Doleshwar while Kamrul Islam Rabbi bowled superbly and took three wickets conceding just 10 runs in his four overs.

In reply, Deolshwar reached their target with seven balls to spare and five wickets in hand.

Doleshwar were under pressure initially but a superb innings from Shamim Hossain Patwary in the late stage of the innings secured victory.

Shamim was unbeaten on 52 off 30 deliveries with four fours and three sixes and adjudged man-of-the-match.

Abahani v Sk Jamal

Abahani faced Sheikh Jamal in the second match of the day in Mirpur where the former elect to bat after winning the toss.

The Sky Blues posted a challenging total as they managed to score 173 losing seven wickets in their 20 overs.

Opener Mohammad Naim gave a solid platform for the middle-order batsmen with a quickfire 42 off 28 deliveries with half a dozen boundaries.

Liton Das batted brilliantly as the right-hander scored 70 with eight fours and one massive six.

During the chase, Sheikh Jamal  lost two early wickets, Saykat Ali (two) and Imrul Kayes (three), but Mohammad Ashraful and Nasir Hossain formed a 69-run partnership for the third wicket, and scored some quick runs.

Ashraful-Nasir partnership set the tone for Shaikh Jamal as they were on course to chase down the target.

Nasir got out after scoring 36 off 22 balls with four fours and two sixes before getting out in the 10th over.

Then skipper and in-form Nurul Hasan continued his good form with the bat, scoring 36 off 22 balls with one boundary and three sixes.

All-rounder Ziaur Rahman also made a handful contribution with 22 off just nine balls with two fours and as many sixes.

Ashraful was brilliant throughout Sheikh Jamal's innings and held firm one end with superb shots all around well to pull out a solid chase.

Eventually Sheikh Jamal reached their target in 18.3 overs.

Ashraful was unbeaten on 78 off 48 deliveries with eight fours and two sixes, and adjudged man-of-the-match.

Mohammedan v Gazi Group

Mohammedan registered a challenging total of 165 for the loss of six wickets, riding on skipper Shuvagata Hom’s cameo.

Opener Parvez Hossain Emon gave a good start initially as the left-hander scored 41 off 32 deliveries with two fours and four sixes.

But the star performer with the bat was captain Shuvagata as the experienced all-rounder’s 59-run knock came in just 31 balls where he smashed four fours and three sixes.

In reply, Gazi Group made a good start as opening pair Mahedi Hasan And Soumya Sarkar used the powerplay well scoring quite a few boundaries.

Soumya scored 22 and was dismissed after yet another short but impressive display of batting.

Mahedi batted superbly and carried his innings with a brilliant innings of 92.

The right hander got out in the last over of the innings and just missed out on a  brilliant century as he fell just eight short of the magical three figure.

Eventually, Gazi Group reached their target, thanks to Mahedi, with three balls and three wickets to spare, despite losing wickets in the middle overs.  

Mahedi struck 11 boundaries and three sixes in his match-winning innings and was later adjudged man-of-the-match.