Rajshahi on front foot
Elias Sunny hauled up Dhaka through a late revival after Rajshahi dominated much of the opening day of the National Cricket League final at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur yesterday.
Defending champions Rajshahi were two for no loss in the only over they batted after Dhaka were bowled out for 280 runs in the first innings.
Sunny, the left-handed all-rounder, struck a 107-ball 57 but crucially, he stuck together important partnerships that gave Dhaka some score to defend after their top- and middle-order lost out to Rajshahi's patience.
Dhaka were 145 for five in the middle session when Sunny walked in and immediately, he started batting freely despite the score. Mahmudullah Riyad reached his fifty, in the meantime, but gave his wicket away six balls later when Johurul Islam latched on to a chance at silly mid-off for 57.
With Mohammad Sharif, Sunny added 42 for the seventh wicket before the Dhaka skipper threw away his wicket for 22 runs off 40 balls. But Sunny stuck firm though maintaining some force on the Rajshahi bowlers. He added 25 with Mosharraf Hossain and another 30 with Mahbubul Alam Robin for the last wicket when he got run out after a mix-up with the No. 11.
Sunny's rearguard effort was the saving grace as Dhaka batted poorly from the onset, literally from the first ball of the game. Rony Talukdar gave first slip Farhad Hossain a catch off Shafiul Islam's first ball.
Shamsur Rahman and Anamul Haque Bijoy counter-attacked and added a quickfire 55 off 70 balls before the opener gave Farhad another catch off his namesake Forhad Reza.
Left-arm spinner Saqlain Sajib then got into work, removing Mehrab Hossain for a duck before lunch. He continued a long spell after the break to end Anamul's innings of 49 runs off 84 balls before Ashraful too fell victim to him, stumped for 40 when he was starting to look settled at the crease.
Saqlain's 29 overs fetched him three wickets while seamer Forhad made good use of the low bounce of the wicket as he too got three wickets. Farhad's off-spin was vital too as he dismissed Riyad for 57, Dhaka's top-score, and Sharif.
Junaed Siddiqui and Jahurul Islam, Rajshahi's most trusted opening pair, saw out Robin's only over without any trouble as the defending champions will look to take the all-important first innings lead when the second day's play starts today.
SCORES IN BRIEF
DHAKA (first innings): 280 all out in 86 overs (Riyad 57, Sunny 55, Anamul 49, Ashraful 40; Saqlain 3-92, Forhad 3-41, Farhad 2-33)
RAJSHAHI (first innings): 2-0 in 1 over (Junaed 1 not out)
Comments