Reds coast to 7-wicket win
BCB Red’s batting muscle took them to a seven-wicket win yesterday in the four-day practice match at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur.
After Tamim Iqbal and Imrul Kayes laid into the BCB Green bowlers in a two-hour blitz, Shuvogoto Hom Chowdhury and Mushfiqur Rahim steered the 234-run chase in only 45.3 overs. BCB Green earlier made 237 in their second innings.
Tamim, who had a decent BCB Cup but made only two in the first innings, hammered nine boundaries and two sixes on his way to an 87-ball 77. It was more like the Tamim of 2009 and 2010 as it was controlled hitting mixed with caution, a trait that he has worked hard on during the last two years.
But the left-hander fell in the 26th over when he gave Naeem Islam a simple catch at mid-wicket off Elias Sunny, ending the 145-run opening stand with his trusted ally.
Imrul fell a few overs later to a better diving effort from Naeem at deep square-leg off Shahadat Hossain. The left-hander had already made 85 in the first innings to mark his return among the runs but his 82-ball 75 was an even more confident knock, as he struck eight boundaries and three sixes.
Mohammad Ashraful did little to pacify those who were looking forward to seeing a more settled approach as he fell for a second-ball duck, leg-before to Shahadat.
Skipper Mushfiqur Rahim along with Shuvogoto ensured no further damages as they calmly took BCB Red to the victory through their unbeaten 60-run partnership for the fourth wicket. Both struck five boundaries with Shuvogoto making his first significant runs since the Zimbabwe tour where he impressed many with his twin effort in the ODIs.
Shahadat was clearly the only wicket-taking option among the Green bowlers but he too suffered at the hands of Tamim and Imrul in the day’s first session.
Earlier, Rokibul Hasan completed a half-century as he held the Green innings together with his unwearied 72 off 147 balls.
Alauddin Babu added some meat to the total with his 40-ball 31 that had a six and three boundaries but Red bowlers chipped away and took the four remaining wickets well ahead of the lunch session.
Meanwhile, the Tigers will return to training next week ahead of the two warm-up Twenty20s on October 3 and 6.
BRIEF SCORES
BCB GREEN: First innings 281 all out; second innings 237 all out in 84.1 overs (Rokibul 72, Nafees 46; Riyad 3-44, Shuvo 2-29, Razzak 2-76).
BCB RED: First innings 285 all out; second innings (target: 234) 234-3 in 45.3 overs (Tamim 77, Imrul 75, Shuvogoto 45 not out; Shahadat 2-46).
Result: BCB Red won by seven wickets.
-With The Daily Star input
