Biman take third place
Staff Correspondent
Roqibul Hassan and Dollar Mahmud shared an unbroken 65-run stand off 33 balls to help Mohammedan Sporting Club lift the Premier Division Twenty20 Cricket Tournament title defeating Gazi Tanks by 20 runs at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium on Wednesday.
An all-round performance from Sakib al Hasan enabled Bangladesh Biman to take the third place with an eight-run victory over defending champions Abahani before the enthralling final.
Unlike the group phase of the league when most of the matches were low-scoring affairs, the final saw some free-flowing runs mostly from Mohammedan, who opted to bat first and posted 171-6, the highest by any side in the two-week long competition.
Pacmen Kamrul Islam and Rubel Hossain dismissed opener Shamsur Rahman (13) and one-down Rashedul Haque (9) to give Mohammedan a torrid time at the beginning. But left-handed opener Nasiruddin Farque maintained a decent run rate with his 16-ball 29.
The run rate slowed down after Faruque departed and Marshall Ayub joined Roqibul. Mohammedan took a gamble and sent on Dollar Mahmud ahead of Foysal Hossain after Ayub left with 22 off 28 balls.
The gamble paid off as Dollar hammered 31 off 15 balls hitting three big sixes before man-of-the-match Roqibul, who was slow initially, scored 10 runs in the last two balls to complete his half-century and finish with an unbeaten 58 off 40 balls.
Tareq Aziz removed Tanks’ semi-final hero Imrul Kayes for a duck in the second ball of the innings before the other opener Mithun Ali also fell to him leaving the side stuttering at 2-19.
Very few were to bet for Tanks when Sajedul Islam had dismissed an in-from captain Mohammad Ashraful for 10, but a 65-run stand between Nafees Iqbal and Naeem Islam brought them back in contention.
Mohammedan skipper Sohrawardi Shuvo ended the resistance of Nafees, who made 43 off 41 balls before Dollar Mahmud caught the former Test opener at deep mid-wicket. Shuvo added two more wickets to his tally in quick succession to take full control of the game with only Kamrul Islam giving them a scare in the last few overs.
Kamrul, who was unbeaten on 33 from 15 balls, smashed Dollar for four boundaries in the 18th over of the match that left Tanks needing 37 runs in the last two overs. But his partner Naeem failed to clear the ropes on quite a few occasions which meant Tanks had to remain content with 151-7.
Earlier in the morning, Sakib smashed 48 off 25 balls with four fours and three sixes to propel Biman to 148-6 in 20 overs before they restricted Abahani to 140-8 in the third-place decider.
Shahadat Hossain and Mahbubul Alam claimed two wickets each conceding 26 and 38 runs respectively while Abdur Razzak and Sakib chipped in with a wicket apiece. Shahgir Hossain made highest 37 runs for Abahani.
Champions Mohammedan scooped Tk 2,00,000 as prize money while runners-up Tanks were given Tk 1,50,000. Biman were also handed over a cheque for Tk 75,000 for winning the third position. Man-of-the-final Roqibul Hassan was given Tk 5,000.
Lieutenant General Sina Ibn Jamali, the president of the Bangladesh Cricket Board, handed over the prizes after the final.
Courtesy: newagebd.com
