Nadif's 51 trumps Mushfiqur's ton

As he always says that the team comes first, Mushfiqur Rahim was not a happy man despite making a scintillating hundred at BKSP yesterday as his effort was not good enough for Mohammedan Sporting Club to avoid a two-wicket defeat at the hands of Victoria Sporting Club in their second match of the Dhaka Premier League.

In the end it was the once-promising Nadif Chowdhury who stole the show with a match-winning unbeaten half-century. Chasing 248, the run-rate was never an issue for Victoria after a 114-run second wicket stand between Abdul Mazid and Mominul Haque built the foundation. But left-arm spinner Enamul Haque revived Mohammedan's hopes by removing Dhiman Ghosh and Suhrawardi Shuvo in the 43rd over. In the next over Enamul effected the run-out of his Victoria namesake to give the opposition a scare.

Nadif however was resolute at the other end and smashed left-arm spinner Naeem Islam Jr for a six in the first ball of the 49th over and after two dot balls he smote the winning boundary to negate Mushfiqur's brilliant  104-run knock.  A 39-ball 51 that saw three fours and four sixes by Nadif also made sure that Victoria made up for their tied match against Legends of Rupganj, who snatched one point courtesy of the last-ball six by Taijul Islam in their first encounter.

Earlier, Mushfiqur clobbered four boundaries and five sixes during his 108-ball innings while Ariful Haque added an unbeaten 42 off 35 balls with two fours and as many sixes as Mohammedan scored 247, which was ultimately inadequate. Left-arm spinner Suhrawardi Shuvo was the pick of the Victoria bowlers with four for 29 but the Mohammedan total could have been much better had the big-hitting Nazmul Hossain Milon not fallen to a run-out.

Another national batsman's effort however did not go in vain as Mohammad Mithun's 94-ball 75 helped Legends of Rupganj to secure a three-wicket victory over Gazi Group Cricketers at the Khan Shaheb Osman Ali Stadium in Fatullah.

In chase of the 256-run winning target, Rupganj made a disastrous start as they lost three wickets for 11 runs, including Soumya Sarkar, who once again failed to get back among the runs. Mithun however steadied the ship along with Ashar Zaidi, putting on a 91-run stand for the fourth wicket.

Asif Ahmed scored an unbeaten 54 but it was Alauddin Babu who finished the job in style with an unbeaten 22-ball 34 that featured one four and three sixes.

At the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur, Brothers Union secured their first win with a six-wicket victory against winless Kalabagan CA. Tushar Imran made an unbeaten 67 and Zimbabwean Sean Williams scored 70 as Kalabagan reached the target of 214 in 45.3 overs.

Scores in brief
MOHAMMEDAN: 247-9 in 50 overs (Tharanga 21, Mushfiqur 104, Faisal 26, Ariful 42 not out; Shuvo 4-29, de Silva 2-41)
VICTORIA: 250-8 in 48.4 overs (Mazid 55, Mominul 67, Al-Amin 27, de Silva 38, Nadif 51 not out; Habibur 2-43, Enamul 2-49, Naeem 2-53)
Result: Victoria won by two wickets. 
Player-of-the-match: Mushfiqur Rahim (Mohammedan)
GAZI GC: 255-8 in 50 overs (Anamul 42, Shamsur 69, Saeed 70, Faruque 30 not out; Mosharraf 2-52, Zaidi 2-45, Soumya 2-14)
LEGENDS OF RUPGANJ: 256-7 in 49 overs (Mithun 75, Zaidi 37, Asif 54 not out, Nahidul 25, Alauddin 34 not out;  Delwar 2-28, Mahedi 2-31, Kapali 2-42)
Result: Legends of Rupganj won by three wickets. 
Player-of-the-match: Mohammad Mithun (Legends of Rupganj)
KALABAGAN CA: 213-7 in 50 overs (Irfan 42, Taposh 30, Mahmudul 54; Shahid 2-43, Sanjit 2-23)
BROTHERS: 214-4 in 45.3 overs (Nafees 26, Tushar 67 not out, Williams 70)
Result: Brothers Union won by six wickets.
Player-of-the-match: Tushar Imran (Brothers Union)