'I kept my word to Riyad'

In the 12th over of the first game yesterday in Mirpur, the roles were reversed. It was Mashrafe Bin Mortaza the batsman against Mahmudullah Riyad the bowler.

It is not often that one gets to see Bangladesh's senior-most cricket players battle each other in the country's domestic circuit and so moments like these are quite exciting for fans.

It was a moment that lived up to expectations. From ball one, Mashrafe had just one target in mind: smash Riyad beyond the boundary. And he did exactly that when a lofted delivery from Riyad was hit straight back past the bowler's head for a six.

Riyad came back well and bowled two deliveries close to Mashrafe's body, which produced two dot balls. However, in the very next ball, Riyad was a bit too full and Mashrafe punished him with a huge six over deep mid-wicket.

“It was good fun today. But at least I kept my word. I told him that I would hit just two sixes before that over and I didn't hit any more,” Mashrafe joked after the match when asked about that over.

Riyad, for his part, said that he was trying to bowl full outside the off stump but could not execute the plan.

“He [Mashrafe] keeps hitting me in the nets as well. I told him not to hit me for too many. I just couldn't bowl where I wanted to,” smiled Riyad.

Khulna Titans' defeat to the Comilla Victorians has made the prospect of them finishing in the top two slots difficult. They now need to beat the Chittagong Vikings in their last match by a big margin in order to get second place. A realistic Riyad is aware of the obstacles that the Titans have ahead.

“It will definitely be difficult. Before losing three consecutive matches, we were in a good position. But then again, we have one more game to go and we are looking forward to that,” said Riyad.

“It becomes difficult when your top order doesn't make a good start. Our bowlers tried hard. Hopefully we can perform better in the next game,” he added.

There are a lot of ifs and buts with regards to Comilla's chances of making it to the playoffs. However, they desperately needed a thumping win yesterday, which they failed to achieve.

“We tried to finish the game by the 15th over in order to have a good run-rate and have some sort of a chance in the last game. But we couldn't start well,” said Mashrafe.