No play today; Day 3 tomorrow
Anamul Haque missed a maiden double hundred but Khulna continued to dominate Dhaka Metro yesterday on a rain-interrupted second day of the National Cricket League second phase game at the Fatullah Cricket Stadium.
Khulna declared their first innings on 618 for eight; stumps were drawn with Dhaka Metro on 118-2, a whopping 500 runs behind.
At the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium, Rajshahi took three first innings wickets of Sylhet after declaring their first innings on 387-8 after the game started thirty minutes late.
The third day’s play will continue on Monday due to today’s daylong countrywide strike.
KHULNA-DHAKA METRO
After play started at 12:16pm due to overnight and early morning rain, Khulna hammered 230 runs in a marauding 30.5 overs but from an individual viewpoint, it was a disappointing morning for Anamul as he fell on 193 runs.
Having started the day on 178, there was a lot of buzz around this young talent’s impending milestone but a Tariq Aziz delivery in the third over of the day trapped him leg-before, ending his 264-ball stay. In all, Anamul hit 27 boundaries and two sixes, but there were more celebrations at the other end as Taposh Ghosh struck a century and Ziaur Rahman breezed to 63 off 58 balls.
Taposh batted for more than four hours for his 183-ball 111 that had fourteen boundaries while Ziaur pounded nine boundaries and a six.
In reply, Dhaka Metro lost two wickets for 118 runs with Tasamul Haque unbeaten on 54 after Marshall Ayub made 31 opening the innings with Mohammad Ashraful (3).
RAJSHAHI-SYLHET
Enamul Haque Jr turned the tide on this encounter’s second day when he frustrated the Rajshahi middle-order. The left-arm spinner took six wickets when they declared.
He took the wickets of Hamidul Islam, Forhad Reza, Jubair Ahmed and Sanjamul Islam, though Sabbir Rahman batted quite positively at the other end.
It ensured that any qualms about the nature of the wicket were misplaced as the newly laid wicket played quite well.
Sabbir struck nine boundaries in his 116-ball 78 before Forhad declared the Rajshahi innings after they batted for 27 overs on the day, scoring 96 runs and losing four wickets.
Sylhet lost Imtiaz Hossain early when the right-handed opener was struck in front off Mukhtar Ali, though Imtiaz was not too happy with the decision.
Their Indian recruit Rahul Dewan started off well, but the tall right-hander from Haryana perished when left-arm spinner Sanjmaul trapped him leg-before.
Rajin Saleh and Nadif Chowdhury then staged a fightback, adding 85 for the third wicket before the former Bangladesh captain fell to Saqlain Sajib for 43.
Nadif was unbeaten on 55 runs from 132 balls.
SCORES IN BRIEF
KHULNA: First innings 618-8 dec in 130.5 overs (Imrul 87, Anamul 193, Taposh 111; Tariq 2-120).
DHAKA METRO: First innings: 118-2 in 30 overs (Tasamul Haque 54 not out, Marshall 31; Dollar 1-15).
RAJSHAHI: First innings 387-8 dec in 117 overs (Jahurul 87, Mizanur 105, Sabbir 78 not out; Enamul 6-127).
SYLHET: First innings 152-3 in 61 overs (Nadif 55 not out, Rajin 43; Mukhtar 1-18).
-With The Daily Star input
