Defending champions Khulna took the control in their second round National Cricket League match when they restricted opponents Barisal to 171-6 on the second day at the Sheikh Abu Naser Stadium in Khulna on Saturday. Resuming on 348-3, Khulna could add just 96 runs to their overnight score before they were all out for 444 runs with left-arm spinner Monir Hossain picking all seven wickets that fell on the day.
Monir finished with 7-85 but that could not stop Khulna from ruling the game as two wickets each from national stalwarts Al-Amin Hossain and Abdur Razzak helped the hosts taking the cream out of Barisal’s batting.
In the lower tier, Yasir Ali fell six runs short of a century but his 94 off 163 balls propelled Chittagong to 419-8 at stumps against Rajshahi at the Shahid Kamruzzaman Stadium.
The remaining two matches between Dhaka Metro v Sylhet in Cox’s Bazar and Dhaka Division v Rangpur in Bogra could not be started for the second successive day due to rain and wet outfield.
Khulna v Barisal
Monir struck in the fourth over of the day to remove Mohammad Mithun (20) before Mithun’s fellow unbeaten overnight batsman Mahadi fell to his left-arm spin to hand Barisal the early momentum.
Mahadi made 177 runs off 290 balls with 16 fours and two sixes, adding 12 his overnight score. Monir then made a quick inroad to wrap-up Khulna’s innings sooner than they had expected it to surpass his previous personal record of 6-27.
Mashrafee bin Murtaza and Al-Amin rocked Barisal at the start of their innings, reducing them to 13-3 inside six overs.
Mashrafee handed Abu Syem a duck and Al-Amin took two quick wickets before Salman Hossain and Rafsan al Mahmud put 39 runs for the fourth wicket to steady their innings.
Razzak separated the pair picking up National Under-19 skipper Salman for 32 but Rafsan dug deep to see out the day with an unbeaten 58, having faced 124 balls so far.
Nuruzzaman was accompanying him with an unbeaten 52 as the pair added 80-run in their seventh wicket stand.
Chittagong v Rajshahi
Visiting Chittagong resumed on 67-2 but Yasir and Tasamul Haque (37) added 113 runs for the third wicket to provide the platform for a big score.
Shariful Islam provided Rajshahi the first breakthrough of the day when he forced Yasir to give a catch to Farhad Hossain.
Irfan Sukkur (65) and Sazzadul Haque (68) hit two fifties and added 85 runs for the fifth wicket as Chittagong scored 352 runs on the second day with two wickets still left in their innings.
Brief Scores
Stumps, Day 2
Khulna v Barisal
Khulna 444 in 124.3 overs (Mahadi Hasan 177, Tushar Imran 132; Monir Hossain 7-85, Tanvir Islam 2-65) v Barisal 171-6 in 55 overs (Rafsan 55 not out, Nuruzzaman 52 not out; Al-Amin 2-32, Razzak 2-50)
***
Chittagong v Rajshahi
Chittagong 419-8 in 139 overs (Yasir Ali 94, Sazzadul Haque 68, Irfaan Sukkur 65, Rony 43, Kamrul 32 not out; Nazmul 2-44,
Saqlain 2-76)
-With New Age input
