Thriller crowns East Zone

Islami Bank East Zone were crowned champions of the first edition of the Bangladesh Cricket League's one-day version after a thrilling final in Mirpur yesterday.

Batting first, BCB North Zone, buoyed by Mahmudul Hasan's 107 and Nasir Hossain's 96, posted 291 in 50 overs. In reply, a fabulous 78 from East Zone skipper Mominul Haque and a half-century from Litton Kumar Das had placed East Zone at a comfortable 131 for 2 in 20 overs before rain interrupted play.

After the restart, East Zone required 278 runs in 46 overs, a target which for most parts of the innings they didn't seem like reaching. At the end of the 33rd over they were precariously placed at 186 for 6 and it didn't seem like their supposedly weak tail could fire; but unfortunately for Nasir Hossain and Mushfiqur Rahim's North Zone, they were proven wrong.

The fightback began with Asif Ahmed, who reverse-swept his way to 46 off 51 deliveries. Nasir had no clue as to where to place the fielders for Asif, who changed his stance and cleared point and cover with ease.

Asif's antics brought the equation down to 48 off the last six overs. An over later though, Asif was caught while attempting to clear the point boundary and the game shifted back towards North Zone.

Abul Hasan, until then merely playing second fiddle to Asif, unleashed his fury and hammered three fours and a six. They needed 14 runs off 12 balls. The penultimate over saw Arafat Sunny and Abul smack sixes to clobber 17 runs and complete a dramatic win.

Earlier, Mahmudul and Nasir shared a 140-run stand and stood up for their team when it needed them the most. They helped North Zone recover from 88 for 3 to go past the 250-mark.  Both players took their time before making a move on.

East Zone would have ideally wanted Tamim Iqbal to have performed in this contest, but the left-handed batsman was out for five. That's when Mominul and Litton shared a century stand to bring them back.

However, after the fall of Litton, they suffered a mini-collapse and it seemed as though Mominul held the key. And when the left-hander was run-out superbly by Sabbir Rahman in the 27th over, everyone on the ground thought that the match as a contest was over. That's when the tail began their amazing exploits and turned the game on its head.