Tamim, Mominul soothe nerves

The Bangladesh team management will be delighted with what transpired on the second day of the opening round of the Bangladesh Cricket League (BCL) yesterday as stalwart Tamim Iqbal smashed an unbeaten double ton while Mominul Haque hit a century to help put East Zone in a commanding position in their match against Central Zone at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium.

Tamim’s double and Mominul’s hundred could not have come at a better time, with the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) announcing a 14-member squad yesterday for the first Test against Pakistan, scheduled from February 7 in Rawalpindi.

Mominul was retained as skipper of the national side while Tamim returned to the national outfit after taking a break from the India tour in November last year.

Tamim, who has usually played the anchor role in recent times, was rather aggressive throughout his yesterday’s innings as he produced a career-best score in first-class cricket. His 281-ball 222, laced with 30 boundaries, speaks volume of the aggressive nature.

According to his national and East Zone captain Mominul, who scored a 194-ball 111 and shared over four hours on the pitch with Tamim, the stalwart’s innings was ‘outstanding’.

“I don’t know about you people, but I witnessed it and it was outstanding,” Mominul said at the end of yesterday’s game.

Tamim ended the first phase of Tigers’ Pakistan tour as the top run-getter in the three-match T20I series but his batting approach in the two matches that were played raised questions.

Yesterday’s aggressive batting, however, will go some way to brushing off doubts about his approach and give the left-hander a much-needed boost ahead of the Test.

East Zone ended the day on top, piling up 395 for two and Mominul mentioned that he would like to see Tamim carry on to score a maiden first-class triple century today as East Zone look to stretch their 182-run lead further.

Meanwhile, in Chattogram, South Zone skipper Abdur Razzak returned impressive figures of four for 72, featuring six maidens, to help bundle out North Zone for 207. North Zone started the day on 46 for five and while overnight batsman Rony Talukdar scored a 143-ball 55 before being dismissed, it was an unbeaten 111-ball 58 from all-rounder Ariful Haque that helped North Zone stretch their score past 200.

After the exchange South Zone managed 40 for one before stumps.

SCORES IN BRIEF

CENTRAL ZONE: 213 all out in 75.1 overs

EAST ZONE: 395 for 2 in 95 overs (Tamim 222 not out, Mominul 111; Mukidul 1-51)

SOUTH ZONE: 262 all out in 67.4 overs and 40 for 1 in 22 overs (Nafees 19 not out; Taskin 1-12)

NORTH ZONE: 207 all out in 77.1 overs (Rony 55, Ariful 58 not out; Shafiul 6-40, Razzak 4-72)