The England-bound national cricketers warmed up well with a comfortable 63-run victory against Maharashtra Cricket Association in the first T20 match at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur yesterday.
The most encouraging factor for the Tigers, who are scheduled to fly for England on May 23 to take part in the ICC Twenty20 World Cup, however was that they could finish the match despite heavy cloud hovering over during the match.
Shakib Al Hasan returned to full action as the left-hander took up the bat after a long break and made 16 off 12 balls including a massive mid-wicket six against Kiran Adhav before he was dismissed on the very next ball at long-off. The left-arm spinner later returned figures of 3-17.
“I batted after a long break and it takes a bit of time to get back the full confidence. I am hopeful everything will be okay because there are a number of practice matches before the start of the World Cup,” said the world’s number one all-rounder, who was out of action for the last few months due to groin injury.
It was however Mahmudullah Riyad who hogged the spotlight as the right-hander’s unbeaten 34-ball 40 enabled the local side, who played the match under the banner of BCB XI, post 150-8 in their share of 20 overs.
Southpaw opening pair of Tamim Iqbal and Zunaed Siddiqui made a solid start after being put in to bat as they added 37 runs in four overs before the latter was bowled by Srikant Mundhe for a 13-ball 22 that contained three fours and a six.
Tamim quickly followed his partner as the Chittagonian flicked Ranjit Chauhan only to reach the safe hands of Kedar Jadhav at square leg for 15 off 13 balls.
BCB XI were well placed at 72 for four in 10 overs, and Riyad and Nayeem Islam, who added a 10-ball 19 with a four and six, helped them reach a reasonable total.
In reply, Maharashtra were bundled out for 87 runs in 17.1 overs as Shakib and spinner Nayeem shared six wickets.
Nayeem took three for 20 runs in four overs.
The visitors however were not disappointed with the result.
“It’s just our second foreign trip after we had played in Sri Lanka last year. We are happy that we got a good opponent to play,” said 20-year-old skipper Harshad Khadiwale.
SCORES IN BRIEF
BCB XI: 150-8 in 20 overs (Tamim 15, Zunaed 22, Mithun 1, Shakib 16, Rokibul 21, Riyad 40 not out, Mushfiqur 1,Nayeem 19, Shahadat 5, extras 10; Samad 1-27, Ranjit 2-17, Srikant 2-31, Kiran 1-30, Azhar 1-26, Ganesh 1-15)
MAHARASHTRA CA: 87 all out in 17.1 overs (Harshad 19, Kedar 6, Ranjit 5, Sangram 8, Rohit 0, Ganesh 13, Azhar 10, Srikant 19, Digamber 3, Kiran 0, Samad 1 not out, extras 3; Rasel 1-24, Shahadat 1-9, Shakib 3-17, Riyad 1-11, Nayeem 3-20)
Result: BCB XI won by 63 runs.
