Khulna stay on top

Rajshahi players are over the moon after Forhad Reza (L) removed Dhaka's last batsman Niaz Morshed on the final day of their National Cricket League match at the Rajshahi Divisional Stadium yesterday. PHOTO: TIGERCRICKET.COM

Khulna retained top spot with an innings and three-run victory over Barisal on the fourth and final day of their fifth-round match of the 9th National Cricket League at the Shaheed Chandu Stadium in Bogra yesterday.
Tigers new ball pair Mashrafe Bin Mortaza and Syed Rasel equally shared Barisal's last four wickets to script the massive victory.
It was the second outright win for Habibul Bashar's men who bagged maximum bonus points to improve their tally to 62 points while hosts Rajshahi rode on Forhad Reza's all round performance to get rid off Dhaka by 70 runs and secure their third victory. Rajshahi followed the leaders seven points behind.
Dhaka however managed five bonus points to finish third after the fifth round.
On the other hand, Chittagong expectedly tasted their first victory when they handed a six-wicket defeat to bottom-side Sylhet at the Chittagong Divisional Stadium.

KHULNA v BARISAL
Barisal resumed the day on 133-6, still needing 57 runs to avoid an innings defeat but they fell three runs short of the visitors. Barisal failed to carry on their previous rounds' impressive performance due to poor batting and skipper Shahriar Nafees has yet to make a mark in the competition before selection for the New Zealand tour, making four and a duck in this round.
Pace spearhead Mashrafe gave the breakthrough on the final day by removing wicketkeeper batsman Mohammad Shaheen (19) before picking up Sajidul Islam (8) to finish with 3-64.
Left-arm pacer Syed Rasel took the remaining two wickets including Raisul Islam, who returned to the pavilion as the last batsman scoring a 104-ball 35, to become the most successful bowler with 4-33.
RAJSHAHI v DHAKA
Left-arm spinner Saqlain Sajib grabbed five wickets in the second innings to return with a match figure of nine as Mohammad Ashraful's breezy half-century failed to salvage Dhaka from their first defeat in the longer-version meet.
Chasing an improbable target of 323, Dhaka were never in course despite Ashraful's 56-ball 58, which contained seven boundaries, as the visitors lost wickets at regular intervals.
Earlier in the morning, it was the most frustrating for national all-rounder Forhad who was trapped leg before by pacer Mahbubul Alam in the very first delivery of the day just two runs shy of a century.
But in the end, he made up the loss with a three-wicket burst including the prized scalp of Ashraful to win the man-of-the-match award.
CHITTAGONG v SYLHET
Chittagong made sure that there would be no upset on the final day as they added more woes to Sylhet's dismal performance in the tournament. Resuming on 11 for no loss while chasing a target of 159, first-innings centurion Gazi Salahuddin and Nafis Iqbal added 43 more runs to consolidate their position.
Chittagong, however, got a jolt when visiting left-arm spinner Enamul Haque picked up four quick wickets to reduce the home team to 82-4 but captain Ehsanul Haque joined Faisal Hossain to guide Chittagong home.
Ehsanul took the charge to finish the game quickly as the right-hander smashed six fours and a six to remain not out on 47 off 41 balls while left-hander Faisal made an unbeaten 34 off 55 deliveries with the help of two fours.
SCORES IN BRIEF
RAJSHAHI: 298 and 229 all out in 88.1 overs (Jahirul 0, Zunaed 5, Naeem 1, Mashud 12, Farhad 17, Mushfiqur 21, Forhad 98, Anisur 31, Shahjada 20, Saqlain 2, Alamgir 4*; Mahbubul 5-47, Niaz 1-20, Sharif 1-45, Mosharraf 1-72).
DHAKA: 205-9 (dec) and 252 all out in 82.5 overs (Javed 20, Al Shahriar 44, Mahmudullah 40, Ashraful 58, Mehrab 20, Mosharraf 0, Shamsur 5, Anwar 8, Sharif 42*, Mahbubul 11, Niaz 4; Saqlain 5-92, Forhad 3-45, Alamgir 2-46).
Result: Rajshahi won by 70 runs.
MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Forhad Reza (Rajshahi).
CHITTAGONG: 308 and 161-4 in 41.5 overs (Salahuddin 25, Nafis 34, Nazimuddin 0, Aftab 6, Faisal 34*, Ehsanul 47*; Enamul 4-62).
SYLHET: 127 and 339.
Result: Chittagong won by 6 wickets.
MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Gazi Salahuddin (Chittagong).
KHULNA: First innings- 396 for nine (dec).
BARISAL: 206 and 187 all out in 81.2 overs (Shahriar 0, Hannan 15, Imran 15, Roquibul 57, Bashar 7, Arafat 3, Raisul 35, Shaheen 19, Talha 11, Sajidul 8, Tariqul 0*; Rasel 4-33, Mashrafe 3-64, Murad 2-30).
Result: Khulna won by an innings and 3 runs.
MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Tushar Imran (Khulna).