Nafees Iqbal and Rubel Hossain shone brightly on the opening day of this season’s Dhaka Premier League as the country’s premier limited-over competition finally got underway on Tuesday at different venues across the country. After several delays and interruptions before the start of the tournament, two matches of round one were completed on the opening day, with former national cricketer Nafees blasting an unbeaten 150 for Brothers Union against Prime Bank and Gazi Tanks paceman Rubel scalped six wickets against Khelaghar Samaj Kallyan Samity.
Brothers, however, still fell short by 79 runs against Prime Bank despite Nafees’ century, while Gazi Tanks romped to an eight-wicket victory over Khelaghar.
The third match of the day, between defending champions Victoria Sporting Club and newly-promoted Kalabagan Cricket Academy, was abandoned due to rain. The match will be played today.
Khelaghar v Gazi Tanks
Gazi Tanks began their campaign with a resounding eight-wicket win over newcomers Khelaghar at the Shaheed Chandu Stadium in Bogra as Rubel ran riot.
Asked to bowl first, Rubel wreaked havoc, picking up four wickets in his opening spell to leave Khelaghar stuttering at 4-17, a position from which they could never recover.
Rubel added two more wickets in his final spell to finish with 6-18 as Khelaghar were bundled out for 133 in 39.4 overs.
Shuvagata Hom was the only batsman to have offered some resistance, making the only half-century (53) for the promoted side.
In reply, Gazi Tanks reached 137-2 with more than 25 overs remaining. Former national cricketer Aftab Ahmed showed a glimpse of his elegant touch, scoring an unbeaten 59 with New Zealand’s Scott Styris unbeaten on 32 at the other end.
Rubel was adjudged the man-of-the-match.
Brothers Union v Prime Bank
Nafees notched a scintillating 150, but a lack of support from the other end made his innings irrelevant as Brothers fell 79 runs short of their target against an impressive Prime Bank, who compiled 334-9 batting first.
Bandara Rajapaksa struck 107 off 97 deliveries and shared a 165-run stand for the second wicket with opener Ziaur Rahman, who gave his team a flying start to the league with a 69-ball 89.
The second-wicket pair of Ziaur and Rajapaksa hit a combined 15 boundaries and 13 sixes to frustrate the Brothers bowlers.
In reply, Nafees scored 150 off 140 deliveries but found no support from his teammates, with the second highest score coming from the bat of his brother and captain Tamim, who was dismissed after making 31 off 21 balls.
Nafees smashed 21 fours and a six but ran out of partners before retiring to end the Brothers innings at 255-9 after 45.2 overs.
Enamul Haque Jr picked up 3-36 from his quota of 10 overs to derail Brothers’ chase.
Nafees was named the man-of-the-match.
Brief Scores
Dhaka Premier League 2013
September 10
Khelaghar Samaj Kallyan Samity v Gazi Tank Cricketers
Shaheed Chandu Stadium, Bogra
Result – Gazi Tank won by eight wickets
Khelaghar – 133-10 in 39.4 overs (Shuvagata 53, Rubel 6-18)
Gazi Tank – 137-2 in 24.2 overs (Aftab 59 n.o., Styris 32 n.o.)
Man of the match: Rubel Hossain
***
Brothers Union v Prime Bank Cricket Club
Shaheed Kamruzzaman Stadium, Rajshahi
Result – Prime Bank won by 79 runs
Prime Bank – 334-9 in 50 overs (Rajapaksa 107, Ziaur 89, Mahmudul 54, Sanjamul 3-52)
Brothers – 255-9 in 45.2 overs (Nafees Iqbal 150 not out, Enamul Jr 3-36)
Man of the match: Nafees Iqbal
***
Victoria Sporting Club v Kalabagan Cricket Academy
BKSP – 2, Savar
Result – match suspended
-With New Age input
