Sylhet fend off Dhaka

NINE NOT ENOUGH: Dhaka left-arm spinner Arafat Sunny is about to deliver during Sylhet's second innings on the final day of the seventh round National Cricket League match at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur yesterday. The spinner took nine wickets in the match.Photo: STAR

The Sylhet dressing room passed a few anxious moments before their seventh round National Cricket League match against Dhaka petered out to a draw at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium yesterday.
In the end, the visitors closed the final day on 153-7 when the game was called off because of no chance of a result. Earlier, Dhaka finished their first innings on 438 all out, taking a 75-run lead. Then the home side took quick wickets in the Sylhet second innings to rock the boat.
Tail-enders Taposh Ghosh and Shuvashish Roy negotiated more than nine overs with some ease as the Dhaka bowlers failed to deliver the knockout punch and chance their arm on some sort of a run chase.
But it was left-arm spinner Arafat Sunny who started the rot, taking the wicket of Imtiaz Hossain after the opener added 66 for the first wicket with Saikat Ali. Arafat trapped him leg-before after Imtiaz had made a quickfire 47 off 43 balls with a six and nine boundaries.
Saikat added 40 runs with skipper Mithun Ali, before the latter was also trapped leg-before to the same bowler. And that started the collapse.
Saikat fell three overs later when he was run out on 43, leaving his side on 109 for three, a lead of 34 runs. On the same score, right-hander Kamrul Islam fell for a duck and Ejaz Ahmed followed suit, giving Arafat his fourth wicket and ninth in the match after a five-wicket haul in the first dig.
Sylhet were 109 for five when brothers Rajin Saleh and Rezaul Haque tried to resurrect the innings. They played very defensively for almost two hours, adding just 24 runs. But their crucial stand was broken when Rajin fell to Imon Ahmed for 18, made from 103 deliveries with the help of three boundaries.
His elder brother Rezaul, who had the tail to shepherd, fell 30 minutes later when a mid-pitch mix-up with Taposh cost him his wicket. The allrounder scored ten runs from 108 deliveries in an innings that spanned exactly two hours.
Earlier, Dhaka added just 18 runs before they were bowled out for 438 runs from 130 overs. Captain Javed Omar, who was later adjudged man-of-the-match, ended with an unbeaten 112 from 191 balls, laced with 19 boundaries. His 40-run stand with Imon ended when left-arm spinner Taposh took care of the tail-ender and the tall Sumon Saha rattled Ashraful Haque's stumps.
BRIEF SCORES
SYLHET: First innings 363 all out and second innings 153-7 in 77 overs (Imtiaz 47, Saikat 43, Mithun 19, Rajin 18, Kamrul 0, Ejaz 0, Rezaul 10, Taposh 9*, Roy 0*; Imon 1-31, Arafat 4-22).
DHAKA: First innings 438 all out in 130 overs (Anwar 12, Elias 16, Shamsur 15, Marshall 45, Riyad 103, Nadif 81, Javed 112*, Arafat 10, Azim 0, Imon 11, Ashraful 4; Roy 1-96, Saikat 2-71, Sumon 3-86, Nabil 1-103, Taposh 3-63).
Result: Match drawn.
Man-of-the-match: Javed Omar.