Premier Twenty20 final today
Staff Correspondent
Opener Imrul Kayes and seamer Rubel Hossain starred with bat and ball to help newly-promoted Gazi Tanks crush holders Abahani by eight wickets to reach the final of the Premier Twenty20 Tournament on Tuesday.
Mohammedan Sporting Club, who defeated Bangladesh Biman by five wickets later in the second semi-final, also at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium, will meet them in the final today at the same venue. The final will begin at 1:00pm and will be televised by Bangladesh television live. Before the final, Abahani and Biman will play in the third place decider from 9:15am.
Abahani v Gazi Tanks
Being asked to bat first, opener Rony Talukdar gave Abahani a rollicking start smashing a 29-ball 49, but a fierce spell of Rubel Hossain, who returned with four for 24, took the advantage away from them dismissing the reigning champions for a modest 134 in 19.3 overs.
Rubel struck after Muktar Ali and Enamul Haque junior took the first two wickets of Ababani dismissing opener Imran Ahmed (3) and in-form Shahagir Hossain (9) respectively.
Nasir Hossain edged first-change bowler Rubel to wicketkeeper Mithun Ali and in the next over Mohammad Younus removed dangerous-looking Rony to take full control of the game.
Rubel handed his national team bowling partner Mashrafee Bin Murtaza a first-ball duck denying Abahani any chance of coming back into the match. Nadif Chowdhury, however, made 30 off 32 balls to help Abahani limp past 100-mark.
Gazi Tanks in reply never seemed in trouble as Imrul Kayes, unbeaten on 70, played a fluent innings after opener Mithun fell to Arafat Sunny for a nine-ball 16 and one-down Nafees Iqbal was trapped leg before by Rezaul for a run-a-ball 17.
Left-handed Kayes drove Arafat for a four to steer Gazi Tanks home as he put on 72 runs for the unbroken third-wicket with Mohammad Ashraful, who remained unbeaten on 29 off 23 balls featuring three fours.
Imrul’s 56-ball innings included six sixes and four fours.
‘All credit goes to the players who are playing well from the start of the tournament. Imrul gave us a good start like he did in the previous matches,’ said Gazi Tanks captain Ashraful.
‘Except the fielding department, we have been bowling and batting better and hope to come good in all three departments in the final,’ said Ashraful, who was consistent with the bat throughout the tournament.
Mohammedan v Biman
Opting to bat first, Biman got off to a terrible start, when left-arm pacer Sajedul Islam reduced them to 16 for five inside four overs with his devastating first spell.
After Tareq Aziz bowled opener Nazmus Sadat out for one in the very fourth delivery of the innings, Sajedul removed Jahurul Islam (5), Sanwar Hossain (2) in his first over and added Sakib al Hasan (0) and Javed Omar (6) in the second.
Tail-enders Mahbubul Alam (22), Abdur Razzak (17) and Shahadat Hossain (15) repaired the damage to some extend and took Biman to 99 before they were all out with seven balls remaining.
In reply, Shamsur Rahman and Nasiruddin Faruque made it very easy for Mohammedan sharing 57 runs in the opening partnership. Sakib gave Biman the first breakthrough with the wicket of Shamshur, who made 43.
Nabil Samad, who claimed 3-11, triggered a mini collapse uprooting the stumps of Farque (34), but Mohammedan faced no real trouble to reach 101 for five with 20 balls to spare.
Courtesy: newagebd.com
