Shahriar Nafees smashed his second successive century to help Gazi Tank Cricketers climb a mountain as they shocked reigning champions Mohammedan SC in a high-scoring fifth round match of the Dhaka Premier League by seven wickets in Bogra on Thursday.
Nazimuddin and Shamsur Rahman hit two centuries to lead Mohammedan to a formidable 339-4, but much to their astonishment Gazi raced to 340-3 with eight balls still in hand to produce the biggest upset of the league so far.
Gazi also defeated runners-up Bangladesh Biman in their previous game. Incidentally, Shahriar was 114 not out against Biman as was his score in Thursday’s thriller. Some credit also should go to Alok Kapali, who was 63 not out facing just 35 balls.
In the other matches of the day, Biman suffered their second successive defeat, this time against Old DOHS by four wickets in Rajshahi while title contenders Abahani consolidated their lead in the points table with their fifth consecutive win, against CCS by 35 runs at the BKSP ground.
Abahani moved three points clear from Mohammedan, who have now seven points from five matches.
Mohammedan v Gazi Tanks
Mohammedan thought they had done enough after Nazimuddin’s run-a-ball 115 and Shamsur Rahman’s unbeaten 108 off 111 balls propelled them to the biggest score of league so far. The duo added 166 runs for the third wicket after Mohammedan had lost openers Tamim Iqbal and Moeen Ali for 74 runs. Gazi were all out for 113 runs against Abahani at the same ground in the third round which must have made Mohammedan confident of a win.
But Gazi were not ready to make the same mistake and showed their intent with a 41-run opening stand which came in little over six overs. Sakib al Hasan and Enamul Haque Jr dismissed the openers respectively before a 151-run stand between Shahriar and Indian recruit Sridharan Sriram brought them strongly back in the game. Sakib had Sriram caught by Tamim for 73 runs, but there was no looking back for Gazi since then.
While Shahriar, who struck 11 boundaries in his 131-ball innings of 114 runs, was happy to take the role of an anchor, Kapali in his first significant innings of the season, provided them the impetus. Kapali hit six fours and four sixes in his whirlpool innings to script an extraordinary win.
Abahani v CCS
Newly recruited Indian cricketer Mithun Manhas scored 89 off 80 ball and added 102 runs with skipper Mahmudullah to lead Abahani to 274-7 before the table-toppers bundled CCS out for 239 runs in 48.1 overs. Manhas, who replaced the already-departed Australian Lee Carseldine as Abahani’s second overseas cricketer, smacked five fours and three sixes. Mahmudullah returned from a one-match suspension to score 66 off 86 balls.
Pakistani Shahbaz Butt made 72 off 98 balls before Nazmul Hossain gave Abahani some scare with his 53 off 42 balls.
Old DOHS v Biman
After scoring fifty in four consecutive matches, Mushfiqur Rahim failed to get a big innings for the first time making just 37 and it reflected on Biman’s scoresheet with them being folded for a paltry 185 runs.
All-rounder Farhad Reza was the wrecker-in-chief for DOHS with his 4-31 and Mehrab Hossain Jr did the rest with his unbeaten 72 off 122 balls taking them to 185-6.
