Mahmudullah Riyad scored a brilliant century to propel Dhaka a two-wicket victory, ending the unbeaten run of Rajshahi in the third round of the National Cricket League one-day version on Friday.
The only day to stake their claim for the national team, especially for the middle-order batsmen before the national training camp starts, Mohammad Ashraful played a part in Dhaka’s win with 63 from 82 balls, his second successive fifty.
Junaed Siddique eased some of the pressure off himself as he scored 55 in 78 balls, but it was not enough for Rajshahi. In another game, Shahriar Nafees complemented an unbeaten century by Fazle Rabbi with 80 not out, leading Barisal to a nine-wicket win over Chittagong.
The win gave Barisal a solo lead in the points table with wins in all three games.
Rajshahi v Dhaka
Sent in to bat first at their home ground, Rajshahi ended their 50 overs scoring 273-7 with Mushfiqur Rahim making highest 72 from 91 balls. Mushfique, who fell seven runs short of a century in the previous match, struck five fours and a six in his sedate innings.
Junaed provided him the platform with 55 off 78 balls after Rajshhai had lost their first two wickets for only 17 runs.
Dhaka were also stuttering at the start losing three wickets for 41 runs before a 135-run stand between Mahmudullah and Ashraful steadied their innings. After Ashraful was out for 63 from 82 balls Mahmuddalla took the onus on his shoulders and was the last batsman to be
dismissed having made 116 runs off 122 balls.
Dhaka still needed 31 runs for their win after the dismissal of Mahmudullah, but Mohammad Sharif (19 not out) and Nur Hossain (17 not out) did not allow Rahshahi to make any further breakthrough.
Barisal v Chittagong
Medium pacer Kamrul Islam became the first bowler to grab five wickets in the 12th edition of the competition as his 5-64 helped Barisal restrict Chittagong to 219-9 at the Shaheed Chandu Stadium in Bogra.
Barisal lost only one wicket to claim the victory as opener Fazle Rabbi made 100 not out and joining him after an 81-run opening stand Shahriar Nafees also remained not out on 80 runs off 89 balls.
Sylhet v Khulna
On an otherwise batsmen-dominated day, bowlers ruled the roost at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium as Sylhet were all out for 135 runs against Khulna before conceding a six-wicket defeat. Tushar Imran, fresh from 98 in the previous match, made 51 from 82 balls as Khulna reached 136-4 in 32.4 overs to claim their first win in the competition.
