Dhaka drive home advantage

Dhaka bowlers drove home the advantage set up by their batsman to stifle Khulna at the end of day two in their opening 4-day match of the 12th National Cricket League at the Shaheed Kamruzzaman Stadium in Rajshahi yesterday.
The other two matches involving Sylhet versus Rajshahi and Barisal versus Chittagong were evenly poised after rain-interrupted second day's play.
Having started day two on 337 for 5, the two overnight Dhaka batsmen took the score past 400-run mark before being separated. Shuvagata Chowdhury scored 105 before being removed by Murad Khan. Youngster Anamul Haque lingered the innings with a scintillating knock of 133 off just 181 balls that featured 16 boundaries and two sixes. He was undone by occasional spin of Tushar Imran. Murad and Nazmus Sadat took two wickets each to end the Dhaka innings for 496.
Replying to this mammoth total, Khulna got themselves in deep trouble having lost 6 wickets for 191 runs before the end of days' play. Opener Sadat scored 43 while Tushar top-scored with 54, both accounted for by Dhaka centurion Mohammad Ashraful. The other spinner Ilias Sunny also took two wickets as Khulna were looking down the barrel.
Over at the Shaheed Chandu Stadium in Bogra, Barisal were reduced to 119 for six in their reply to Chittagong's first innings total of 202, , thanks to three-wicket hauls from Chittagong pacemen Nazmul Islam Apu and Kazi Kamrul Islam. Nasiruddin's 36 was the only mentionable score in that innings so far.
Defending champions Rajshahi were bundled out for 160 within 72, thanks to a four-wicket haul from left-arm spinner Enamul Haque. Farhad Hossain's 36 and Anisur Rahman's 33 gave the champions something to work with when they bowl.

SCORES IN BRIEF
Dhaka v Khulna
DHAKA: First innings 496 all out (Shamsur 48, Ashraful 113, Shuvogata 105, Anamul 133; Murad 2-69, Sadat 2-91)
KHULNA: Dhaka drive home
advantage First innings 191 for 6 (Sadat 43, Tushar 54, Soumya 24; Ashraful 2-30)
Chittagong v Barisal
CHITTAGONG: First innings 202 all out (Nazimuddin 91, Aftab 31; Shafaq 4-49, Arafat 3-43)
BARISAL: First innings 119 for 6 (Rabbi 27, Nasiruddin 36; Nazmul 3-15, Kamrul 3-26)
Rajshahi v Sylhet
RAJSHAHI: First innings 160 all out (Farhad 36, Sabbir 33; Enamul 4-43, Shaker 2-39)