Ziaur gem stuns Abahani

Dhaka Sports Club meet BU in final today
An astonishing 78 off 31 balls by Ziaur Rahman stunned Chittagong Abahani as Dhaka Sports Club snatched a win from their grasp with three-wicket semi-final victory to reach the final of the Port-city Cricket League at the MA Aziz Stadium on Saturday.
In the final, the Dhaka outfit will meet Chittagong Brothers Union, who overcame a tough challenge to beat Dada Warriors by four wickets. The title decider, which is a day-night affair, will be held today.
Private television channel ATN Bangla will broadcast the match live from 5:00pm.
Meanwhile, the PCL organisers have cancelled the celebratory progamme in the final following the death of Dr Wazed Miah, the husband of prime minister Sheikh Hasina.
Stage was set for an Abahani-Brothers final, the two much-talked-about sides of the Twenty20 tournament, after Dhaka Sports Club were left struggling at 48-4 in 10 overs, replying to Abahani’s 153 for six in the second semi-final.
Pace bowlers Rabiul Islam quickly removed DSC’s three top-order batsmen including Wasim Naeem, the spearhead opening batsman and bowler, to make Abahani’s win look like a certainty before Zia turned the match other way.
Zia, overlooked by the selectors for the Twenty20 World Cup despite being a strong contender, used his venom against the Abahani bowlers to strike six fours and seven sixes.
Three of his sixes came in the penultimate over, bowled by off-spinner Maksudul Hasan, when DSC needed 24 four runs for a win. Hasan conceded 21 runs in that over that ended with all excitement. Three balls later, DSC were on target with three wickets to spare.
Zia also hammered Abahani’s Sri Lankan cricketer F Karunaratne disdainfully to score 23 runs in his only over.
Earlier, Tamim Iqbal scored 54 off 46 balls, his first fifty in the competition, hitting five fours and a six to lift Abahani to a respectable position. Chamara Silva, a member of Sri Lanka’s Twenty20 World Cup squad, played his role with an unbeaten 36 off 21 balls.
Tamim’s elder brother Nafees Iqbal scripted the victory for Brothers, who restricted Dada Warriors to 170-5 before overhauling the total with two balls to spare. Nafees, who played a large part of his innings with the help of a runner, was unbeaten on 70 off 56 balls with seven boundaries.
After Brothers lost three wickets for 41 runs, Sri Lankan cricketer Chamara Kapugedara joined Nafees and steadied the innings without allowing the run rate to go beyond the reach. Kapugedara was finally dismissed for 29 off 18 balls. A late cameo by Abdur Razzak, who clouted 19 off 13 balls, also helped Brothers.
Their efforts ruined a fine innings of Junaed Siddique, who smacked half a dozen boundaries and as many sixes, to score 77 off 50 balls, his second successive fifty that gave Dada a challenging total. Pakistani Saeed Anwar Jr made a run-a-ball 33.
Left-arm spinner Mohammad Yunus, the only player to notch a hat-trick in the competition, returned with 3-14 for Brothers Union.

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