All-rounders rule the day
An all-round performance from skipper Alok Kapali steered Brothers Union to a 24-run win against Prime Bank CC in their Dhaka Premier League encounter at the BKSP in Savar yesterday.
It was Brothers' second consecutive win after a five-run victory against Mohammedan in their first fixture, where Kapali had also starred with an unbeaten 95. Yesterday Kapali top-scored with quickfire 79 off 67 balls, a knock that featured five fours and as many sixes, as Brothers posted a challenging 294 for 7 after being sent in to bat.
The experienced all-rounder was also part of a crucial 93-run fifth-wicket stand with Yasir Ali, who remained unbeaten after a blistering 63-ball 69, which included two sixes and four boundaries. Yasir also provided the late boost which saw Brothers add 46 runs in the final five overs.
However all-rounder Ariful Haque, who was included in the Bangladesh squad for the first T20I against Sri Lanka, had a rough outing with both bat and ball, giving away 76 runs for two wickets from nine overs and scoring only two.
After the exchange, Prime Bank lost wickets at regular intervals but wicketkeeper-batsman Zakir Hossain -- who also received his maiden call-up to the national team -- and Indian recruit Kunal Chandela both scored fifties as they tried to spark a resistance.
Nahidul Islam responded to that call and kept hopes alive with some lusty blows, including eight fours and four sixes, but after his departure for a team-high 88 the batting line was unable to hold on and Prime Bank eventually folded 270 with 14 balls to spare.
Player-of-the-match Kapali proved deadly with the ball as well, scalping three wickets with his leg-spin, while Khaled Ahmed and Sohrawardi Shuvo took two wickets each for Brothers.
In another ground at the BKSP, Sheikh Jamal rode on a blistering 48-ball 71 from Tanbir Hayder to clinch their second win, defeating Agrani Bank by 28 runs despite an all-round performance from Shafiul Islam.
Sheikh Jamal did find themselves in a spot of bother when they were reduced to 56 for three inside 13 overs, but Indian recruit Digvijay Rangi added 58 and Elias Sunny scored 40 as the pair steadied the ship by forging a 94-run partnership.
Tanbir then took charge, smoting three sixes and five fours before becoming Shafiul's fourth victim off the last ball of the innings. However, it was more than a little late as the Dhanmondi-based outfit had already added 55 runs in the last five overs and posted 294 for 9.
Left-arm spinner Abdur Razzak and medium-pacer Soumya Sarkar scalped two wickets each for Agrani, but the latter failed to impress with the bat, not succeeding in converting his start into a big knock. The mercurial opener was dismissed for 22, starting Agrani Bank's steady fall of wickets.
Dhiman Ghosh top-scored with 48 while Shafiul struck 44 off 31 balls, but that was nowhere near enough as Agrani were bundled out for 266.
Sheikh Jamal's Elias Sunny and Nazmul Islam took three wickets each while pacer Abu Jayed, another newcomer to the national T20I squad, picked up a solitary wicket in exchange for 60 runs from his ten overs.
In the other game of the day, Mohammedan were unable to chase a modest 232 and fell to a 62-run defeat against Legends of Rupganj at Fatullah.
No one in the top order was able to convert their starts into big knocks and Mohammedan were eventually bundled out for just 169 in 44.3 overs with skipper Shamsur Rahman scoring a team-high 34.
Left-arm spinner Mosharraf Hossain bagged four wickets while fellow left-armer Asif Hasan and pacer Mohammad Shahid took three each for the bowling side.
Earlier, national under-19 team's left-arm seamer Qazi Onik picked up five wickets for 44 runs from his ten overs to put Rupganj under pressure. After being sent in to bat, Rupganj opener Abdul Mazid top-scored with seventy while Avishek Mitra added a run-a-ball 45 and Tushar Imran added 40.