Mashrafe is back
Pace spearhead Mashrafe Bin Mortaza showed signs of returning to his belligerent best with a hostile spell while his new ball partner Syed Rasel lived up to his billing as Mr. Accurate to ensure Khulna complete a successful Dhaka trip with a 39- run win over the hosts in the opening round one-day match of the 9th National Cricket League at the Mirpur Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium yesterday.
Left-arm pacer Rasel took a five-for but it was Mashrafe's fiery spell, something which was desperately missing for the last one year, that gutted Dhaka despite a brilliant recovery act by the left-right combination of Mosharraf Hossain (72) and Mahmudullah Riyad (65).
Chasing a fighting Khulna total of 240, Dhaka were bundled out for 201 with more than five overs to spare in front of a strong 8,000 home crowd.
Mashrafe confirmed that there would be no fireworks from Mohammad Ashraful (1) when he had Dhaka and the national captain trapped in front with a superb inswinger in the fifth over, leaving the hosts tottering at 13-3.
The Narail Express then returned to his second spell to effectively dash Dhaka's hopes of an intriguing finish after Mosharraf and Riyad produced 101 runs for the fourth wicket.
Bowling with extreme pace that was missing since he collapsed in Sri Lanka two years ago, Mashrafe dismissed Dhaka's wicketkeeper Sajjad Kadir for a duck after left-arm spinner Abdur Razzak broke the stubborn fourth wicket stand.
But his third wicket was a spectator's delight. The ball landed at 140kpm on Nazmul Hossain's off-stump and the batsman could only fend off the rising ball behind the wicket.
“I haven't seen him bowling so well for a long time. I think he was playing all six matches together here,” said Ashraful while praising the fantastic effort of the fast bowler who also bowled brilliantly in the drawn four-day match at the same venue.
"It looked like the Mashrafe of old. It was fantastic to watch the way he bowled in the four-dayer and then in the one-day game and after a long time he got back his rhythm. We have four regular national team bowlers in the team and that's why we were always confident to defend the total," said Khulna captain Habibul Bashar.
Rasel also played his part in the match. He removed both the Dhaka openers on a wicket that suited his bowling most. The left-armer struck in his very first over with a gangling Al-Shahriar, who has been out of any competitive cricket for the last six months, paid the penalty for taking the aerial route too early and was comfortably caught at mid-on.
Javed Omar was Rasel's second victim in his next over. He was a surprise inclusion in the one-day set up of Dhaka when many felt Ashraful should have tried one of the new faces after the selectors had dumped the doughty opener from any one-day internationals since the Sri Lanka tour this year.
Earlier, Khulna rode on half-centuries from Imrul Kayes (71) and Shakib Al Hasan (56) to put on a challenging total after deciding to bat first on a surface that could have never been an ideal one ahead of the Tigers' tour of New Zealand.
Opener Kayes anchored the Khulna innings during his 121-ball essay and the left-hander struck three fours and two sixes -- one against Mohammad Sharif and another against Mosharraf over long-on, before he was brilliantly caught by Nazmul Hossain off Ashraful.
Shakib's knock featured five boundaries in 51 balls.
Mashrafe also scored a quickfire 35 in 25 balls that contained two massive sixes against ace left-arm spinner Mohammad Rafique. He later shared the man-of-the-match award with Rasel, who finished with 5-35.
SCORES IN BRIEF
KHULNA: 240-8 in 50 overs (Sadat 20, Kayes 71, Tushar 4, Shakib 56, Bashar 17, Mashrafe 35, Sahagir 6, Razzak 0, Ziaur 16 not out, Babu 0 not out, extras; Mahbubul 1-38, Rafique 2-60, Mosharraf 2-40, Ashraful 1-23).
DHAKA: 201 all out in 44.5 overs (Javed 3, Al-Shahriar 1, Mosharraf 72, Ashraful 1, Mehrab 12, Riyad 65, Sajjad Kadir 0, Nazmul 2, Rafique 7, Sharif 0, Mahbubul 15 not out; Mashrafe 3-35, Rasel 5-35, Razzak 1-53).
Result: Khulna won by 39 runs.
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