Hungry Tushar conquers 10k mark
Although most of the focus was on the opening game of the tri-series between Bangladesh and Zimbabwe at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium, there was still some curiosity and eagerness about the second-round match of the Bangladesh Cricket League between Prime Bank South Zone and Walton Central Zone taking place in BKSP yesterday.
The wait became longer as the game was delayed due to foggy weather and a wet pitch at BKSP-3 as the match finally started at 2:45 pm.
There were two individual milestones awaiting South Zone veterans Abdur Razzak -- who is just a wicket shy of becoming the first Bangladeshi to take 500 first-class wickets -- while his teammate Tushar Imran was just 35 runs away from becoming the first Bangladeshi to score 10,000 first-class runs.
The spotlight first fell on Tushar when Central Zone opted to field and the middle-order batsman finally got the opportunity when Soumya Sarkar continued his poor run to be caught behind off the bowling of pacer Ebadat Hossain after scoring 10 as South Zone were struggling on 22 for two.
Tushar, alongside Shahriar Nafees, held the ship together and soon enough the right-hander reached the feat in style when, on 34, he punched leg-spinner Tanbir Hayder through midwicket for four to make history.
The 34-year-old remained unbeaten on 40 off 72 balls with seven fours alongside Nafees, who was not out on 53 at the other end as South Zone ended the first day on 108 for two at stumps.
Despite reaching the milestone the veteran cricketer from Khulna informed that he wants to continue scoring runs and said that it is the hunger for scoring runs which keeps him motivated.
"Obviously it feels good to achieve such a milestone. If things go this way I want to continue playing cricket for the next three years. And if I am not able to score runs then I will be dropped automatically, but I will try to keep going and score 12,000-13,000 runs. I think it will give me satisfaction," Tushar, who played five Tests and 41 ODIs for Bangladesh between 2001 and 2007, told The Daily Star after reaching the landmark yesterday.
Interestingly, no other Bangladesh batsman has yet reached 9,000 runs -- the second highest run-getter after Tushar is Alok Kapali with 8,440 followed by Rajin Saleh (8,135), Farhad Hossain (7,357) and Mohammad Ashraful (7,318).
In the other match of the day at the Sylhet International Stadium, Isalmi Bank East Zone pacer Abu Jayed bagged five wickets to bundle out defending champions North Zone for a paltry 187 runs after they were put in to bat first.
The right-arm seamer registered his 11th five-wicket haul in first-class cricket and ended up with figures of five for 71 from his 17 overs, while medium pacer Syed Khaled took three wickets.
Farhad Hossain's 40 was the highest score for North Zone in an innings where none of the other batsmen were able to score significantly.
In reply, East Zone were in a spot of bother and were struggling on 24 for four at stumps. Pacers Shafiul Islam and Forhad Reza took two wickets each to leave East Zone trailing by 163 runs at close of play with Zakir Hossain (2 not out) and Yasir Ali (0 not out) at the crease.
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