Facing fierce competition at the top of the Tigers’ Test line-up, Marshal Ayub made his case to stay in the number three hole he occupied against New Zealand.
Marshal hit an unbeaten century on day two of the Bangladesh Premier League’s second round of matches at the BKSP on Sunday, providing a timely reminder of his ability to selectors in his last innings before the Test series against Sri Lanka.
He reached the close of play on 122 not out, hitting 14 fours and two sixes to give his Walton Central Zone side control of their match against Prime Bank South Zone at BKSP-3. Central Zone closed day two on 318-5 in their second innings to build a 253-run lead.
Marshal had scored a pedestrian 106 runs – with a top score of 41 – in four innings in his debut series against New Zealand in October, leaving his place in the Test side in doubt.
Meanwhile, Nabil Samad took six wickets at BKSP-2 as his Islami Bank East Zone team dismissed BCB North Zone for 248 before ending the day on 79-3, good for a 101-run lead.
Central Zone captain Mahmudullah took two more wickets to finish with 7-94 and restrict South Zone to a 65-run first innings lead, dismissing them for 230. South Zone opened day two on 196-7 after Central Zone scored just 165 in their first innings on Saturday.
After watching the first 20 wickets of the match fall in under than four sessions, the Central Zone batsmen put together a string of partnerships to wrest control away from the bowlers.
Opener Shamsur Rahman, who scored 267 in the first match ahead of being named to the Tigers’ 30-man World Twenty20 squad, scored 65 as a part of a 51-run opening stand with Shahriar Nafees (27) and an 87-run second-wicket partnership with Marshal.
Solid partnerships continued to come after Shamsur fell to Taiabur Parvez, as Marshal added 86-run stands with Roqibul Hasan (31) and Mahmudullah (41).
The batsmen found less joy at BKSP-2, where Alok Kapali added just six to his overnight score of 52 as East Zone’s were dismissed for 270 after Taijul Islam’s seven wickets had left them on 261-8 on Saturday.
Nabil Samad then bowled out North Zone opener Jaharul Islam with the first ball of the innings to set the tone for the rest of the line-up. North Zone collapsed to 99-6 when captain Mushfiqur Rahim was caught behind by wicketkeeper Dhiman Ghosh off Alauddin Babu.
Forhad Reza, who scored 153 in the opening match, played another fine innings, scoring 72 off 76 balls and adding 86 runs for the seventh-wicket with Sohrawardi Shuvo to help rescue the innings.
After Forhad’s wicket at 185-7, Shuvo carried on with the tail to score 67 not out and take the total to 248, improbably limiting the first innings deficit to just 22 runs.
Samad finished with 6-69 for the innings.
BRIEF SCORES
Stumps, Day 2
Walton Central Zone v
Prime Bank South Zone
Walton Central Zone 2nd innings 318-5 in 71 overs (Marshal 122 not out, Shamsur 65, Mahmudullah 41; Taiabur 3-34) and 165 in 39.4 overs in 1st innings v Prime Bank South Zone 1st innings 230 in 64.2 overs (Mithun 88, Taiabur 31; Mahmudullah 7-94).
Islami Bank East Zone v
BCB North Zone
Islami Bank East Zone 2nd innings 79-3 in 21 overs (Nafees 37, Mominul 24) and 1st innings 270 in 83 overs v BCB North Zone 1st innings 248 in 68 overs (Forhad 72, Sohrawardi 67 not out; Nabil 6-69).
-With New Age input
