Dhakas' contrasting fortunes
Dhaka Division staged a comeback against Khulna on the second day of their third round encounter in the 19th National Cricket League yesterday.
Nadif Chowdhury scored a career-best 166 runs against the defending champions as Dhaka headed toward a huge total after posting 484 for seven at stumps.
Dhaka had resumed on 132 for four following a pair of fifties from overnight batsman Shuvagata Hom and Taibur Parvez, who added 110 for the fifth wicket before Shuvagata was dismissed on 66 runs off 101 balls laced with nine fours. Nadif then joined Taibur and the duo added 69 runs before the latter departed on 79 off 170 deliveries featuring seven fours.
Nadif, who played Bangladesh's maiden T20I against Zimbabwe in 2006, has not been able to utilise his talent and has been inconsistent despite being marked as a bright prospect early in his career. However, the tall right-hander looked determined on Saturday and smashed his sixth first class hundred off 173 balls.
The-30 year-old accelerated after reaching his century and went on to score the next 50 off just 46 balls. He and Mosharraf Hossain added 227 for the sixth wicket before Nadif was finally sent back by Tushar Imran on 166 off 239 deliveries, having smashed 17 fours and six sixes.
Mosharraf, who is just two runs away from his second first class ton after 218 balls with eight fours, will resume alongside skipper Mohammad Sharif (5). Khulna off-spinner Mahedi Hasan was the pick of the bowlers, bagging three wickets while pacer Al Amin Hossain took two.
In the Tier 2 fixture, Rajshahi suffered a batting collapse against Dhaka Metro after resuming the second day on 114 for four and were bundled out on 220 by lunch.
Overnight batsman Zunaid Siddique was the only notable performer for Rajshahi. The left-hander scored 85 off 173 balls with nine fours.
Off-spinner Sharif Ullah proved instrumental for Dhaka Metro as he picked up three wickets alongside pacer Dollar Mahmud, who took three scalps on the first day, while left-arm seamer Abu Hayder bagged two.
In reply, Dhaka Metro lost two wickets early on in the form of opener Mehedi Maruf (1) and Jabid Hossain (0) and were struggling on 10 for 2 at stumps with Shadman Islam (8 not out) and skipper Marshall Ayub set to resume the third day trailing by 210 runs.
Meanwhile just like on the opening day, the other two fixtures -- between Barisal-Rangpur and Chittagong-Sylhet -- were abandoned for the second consecutive day due to inclement weather.