Sabbir Rahman continued to fire for Prime Bank CC and Mominul Haque scored a blistering fifty for Mohammedan Sporting Club as both their sides came away with wins at the Victory Day T20 Cup in Sylhet on Wednesday. Sabbir hit his second successive unbeaten half-century of the tournament to steer Prime Bank to a four-wicket victory over Abahani Limited before Mominul and Dewan Sabbir starred in Mohammedan’s seven-wicket romp against the UCB-BCB XI.
In the first game of the day, Sabbir scored 84 not out as Prime Bank reached 175-6 in 19.3 overs after restricting Abahani to 171-7.
Abahani skipper Mushfiqur Rahim made his second successive half-century of the tournament in the loss.
Prime Bank were 83-4 when Sabbir and Mehrab Hossain Jr (16) repaired the innings, adding 40 runs for the sixth wicket.
Sabbir hit two consecutive sixes off left-arm spinner Nabil Samad at the end of the 17th over, easing the pressure of the climbing required run-rate, as Prime Bank found themselves needing 49 runs from the last 21 deliveries.
Sabbir hit six fours and four sixes in his match-winning 50-ball 84 knock and received able support from the tail in Liton Kumar (12) and Sohag Gazi (14 not out) as Prime Bank achieved victory with three balls to spare.
Opting to field first, Prime Bank did not take long to push Abahani, who were struggling at 29-2 before skipper Mushfiq and Soumya Sarker (31) steadied the boat by adding 58 runs for the third wicket.
Mushfiq did not receive a warm welcome to the crease, getting hit in the elbow by a Rubel beamer, but he settled in after that.
Mushfiq looked to be in excellent touch, hitting four sixes and a boundary in his 50 from 37 balls. His innings was cut short when Sabbir caught him at extra-cover after he slashed at a Rubel Hossain delivery in the 16th over.
There was, however, cause for concern for both Abahani and the national set-up, as back pain prevented Mushfiq from standing behind the stumps during Prime Bank’s innings.
The national captain had an MRI after the match and his status for the next match is in doubt.
In the second match, Mohammedan restricted UCB to 129-9 in the first innings, roaring back after a 71-run second-wicket partnership between Tamim Iqbal and Rony Talukdar had put the batting side in a position to amass a sizeable total.
Alauddin Babu dismissed Rony (43 off 32 balls) in the 11th over and Tamim (34 off 38) in the 13th to bring UCB’s momentum to a halt.
Dewan Sabbir then took four of the next six wickets to finish with figures of 4-22 and help limit UCB to around five runs an over in the final eight overs.
Alauddin took 2-23, while Sharif Ullah, Mashrafee bin Murtaza and Elias Sunny took one wicket each.
Mohammedan made short work of the chase, reaching 130-3 in 17.1 overs thanks to Mominul’s 50 not out from 28 balls.
Nurul Hasan scored 28 off 24 balls and Taiabur Parvez scored 30 not out off 25 in an unbeaten 72-run fourth-wicket partnership with Mominul to see Mohammedan home. Enamul Haque Jr took 2-14 for UCB.
BRIEF SCORES
Prime Bank CC v Abahani Limited
Abahani Limited 171-7 in 20 overs (Mushfiq 50, Soumya 31, Zia 28; Rubel 3-17, Taijul 2-39) v Prime Bank CC 175-6 in 19.3 overs (Sabbir 84 not out, Anamul 22, Sohag 14 not out; Sohrawardi 1-15).
Result: Prime Bank CC won by 4 wickets.
Man of the match: Sabbir Rahman (PBCC).
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UCB BCB XI v Mohammedan SC
UCB BCB XI 129-9 in 20 overs (Rony 43, Tamim 34, Naeem 20; Dewan 4-22) v Mohammedan SC 130-3 in 17.1 overs (Mominul 50 not out, Taiabur not out, Nurul 2s; Enamul Jr 2-14).
Result: Mohammedan SC won by 7 wickets.
Man of the match: Dewan Sabbir (MSC)
-With New Age input
