Discarded Fizz comes to life
Mustafizur Rahman, who was dropped from the national squad for the Rawalpindi Test, showed signs of a return to form with a four-wicket haul that helped Central Zone take a four-run lead in the first innings of their Bangladesh Cricket League (BCL) clash at the Sylhet International Cricket Stadium yesterday.
However, Mustafizur’s Central Zone, who bundled out the BCB-run North Zone for 166, failed to capitalise on their decent start and lost half their batsmen for 187 before the day’s play ended prematurely due to bad light.
The performance came a week after the first time ever that the ace left-arm pacer was dropped from the national squad for poor performances, especially in the longer format.
Mustafizur toured India with the Tigers in November last year but did not feature in any of the two Tests played. The 24-year-old also remained wicketless in the opening round of the BCL before being snubbed by the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) when they announced a 14-member squad for the first Test against Pakistan.
And although it was not a jaw-dropping performance from the left-armer, it was still a decent day for Mustafizur and he started off emphatically by rattling national teammate Mushfiqur Rahim’s stumps. Mustafizur, who scalped a solitary wicket on the first day, took two more at the death yesterday and finished with figures of four for 68 in 23 overs.
North Zone had Ariful Haque to thank as the all-rounder played a team high of 78-ball 50.
After the exchange, Central Zone stuttered at the beginning. However, after losing three wickets for 50, Central recovered through an 89-run fourth wicket stand between Abdul Mazid (69 off 107) and Taibur Rahman (47 off 91). But both Mazid and Taibur fell before the umpires called stumps.
Meanwhile in Cox’s Bazar, East Zone managed 270 for five at the close in reply to South Zone’s mammoth 482. Pinak Ghosh (80 off 151) and Mohammad Ashraful (71 off 123) gave East Zone a solid start by stringing together a 146-run opening stand but they lost two quick wickets just before stumps.
Comments