Mahmudullah XI keep their hopes alive with a four-wicket win
With no real scoreboard pressure, Mahmudullah XI registered a four-wicket win -- thanks to contributions from Mahmudul Hasan, Imrul Kayes and skipper Mahmudullah Riyad -- against Tamim XI in the fifth match of the BCB President's Cup at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur today. And thanks to this win, Mahmudullah XI kept their hopes of playing the final scheduled for October 23, alive.
Things however did not look so bright at the beginning for Mahmudullah XI. Chasing a mediocre 222-run target set by Tamim XI, Mahmudullah XI lost both their openers -- Mohammad Naim Sheikh and Liton Das -- in just 1.1 overs with just eight on the board. After that, an 84-run third-wicket stand between Imrul and young Mahmudul helped Mahmudullah XI recover from the early slump.
Both Imrul and Mahmudul kept rotating the strike with occasional boundaries coming from their bats. While Imrul took the charge initially, Mahmudul accelerated at the latter part of their partnership. But Imrul, who looked solid throughout his innings, fell prey to a Khaled Ahmed delivery in the 20th over. Khaled, who was hitting the deck hard, surprised Imrul with a short delivery as he was able to induce a thick edge off the left-hander's bat, resulting in him being caught at point while just one run shy off a fifty.
Although Imrul missed out on a fifty, young Mahmudul did not fail in that regard. The youngster again starred in a 56-run stand with skipper Mahmudullah for the fourth-wicket before falling prey to Taijul Islam in the 34th over after scoring a sensible 101-ball 58.
After Mahmudul's dismissal, skipper Mahmudullah strung together another crucial 65-run stand for the fifth wicket with Nurul Hasan to all but ensure a victory for his side. Mahmudullah remained the top scorer for his side, scoring an 87-ball 67 featuring four boundaries and a maximum while Nurul remained unbeaten for a 36-ball 25.
Earlier, Tamim XI posted 221 for eight courtesy of two crucial partnerships -- a 111-run fifth-wicket stand between Mahidul Islam (57 of 110) and Yasir Ali (62 off 81) followed by a 75-run stand for the seventh wicket between Mosaddek Hossain (40 off 39) and Mohammad Saifuddin (38 off 29).
However, after Tamim XI decided to bat, they were once again in the doldrums early on as a flurry of wickets fell after winning the toss and electing to bat first. For Mahmudullah XI, pacer Rubel Hossain once again proved to be pivotal as the right-armer cornered Tamim XI by picking three of the four early wickets that fell. Rubel scalped another wicket later in the game to finish with impressive figures of four for 34 in his 10 overs that included three maidens.
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