Title aspirants Abahani Limited survived a scare but not before some controversial umpiring marred their nine-run win over Victoria Sporting Club in the Dhaka Premier League at Fatullah on Wednesday. Victoria were eying their third win in fourth match when they dismissed Abahani for 221 runs but they were undone by five leg-before decisions, some of which the side claimed were highly controversial.
Despite a poor start to their innings, which saw them losing six wickets for 114 runs, Victoria were on course to win thanks to a half-century of Al-Amin ( 56) and later-order resistance from Dhiman Ghosh and Sohrawardi Shuvo.
Dhiman was caught and bowled by Mosaddek Hossain for 31 but Sohrawardi took the side close with a dogged innings that came to an abrupt halt with a controversial leg-before decision.
Sohrawardi leaned forward against a delivery bowled by Saqlain Sajib that bounced awkwardly to hit his thigh pad but umpire Gazi Sohel did not hesitate to raise his finger after loud appeal of Abahani fielders.
Sohrawadi (45 off 56 balls) departed as ninth batsman with Victoria still needing 16 runs. Abahani took the last wicket, thanks to the fifth leg-before out of the innings as Victoria were finally dismissed for 212 in 47.3 overs.
‘It’s difficult to play cricket when you get so many bad decisions,’ said Victoria secretary Nesaruddin Kajol. ‘We have every right to expect a fair game after spending so much money on team. It’s unfortunate that we don’t get a fair deal all the time.’
Earlier, Sri Lankan spinner Chaturanga de Silva grabbed 6-35 as Victoria dismissed Abahani to a gettable total despite a promising start by Tamim Iqbal and Avishek Mitra (44), who added 97 runs in the opening stand.
Tamim made 63 from 88 balls with seven fours before he paid the price of an over ambitious shot, a reverse sweep, and missed the line to be adjudged leg-before wicket.
It triggered a collapse as Abahani were soon reduced to 131-5 before Abul Hasan and Mossadek Hossain added 72 runs for the sixth wicket to take their score to some kind of respectability.
Abul made 43 runs while Mossaddek scored 34 runs.
Brief Scores
Abahani Limited 221 in 50 overs (Tamim 63, Avishek 44, Abul 43, Mosaddek 34; Chaturanga 6-35, Kamrul 3-38) v Victoria SC 212 in 47.3 overs (Al-Amin 56, Sohrawardi 45; Taskin 2-29, Jubair 2-41)
Result: Abahani Limited won by 9 runs.
Man of the match: Chaturanga de Silva (Victoria SC)
-With New Age input
