Naim Sheikh’s ton helps Abahani overpower Mohamedan

Abahani Limited came victorious in the prestigious battle of Dhaka derby as Abahani beat Mohamedan Sporting Club by six wickets in their Dhaka Premier Division League match at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Dhaka

on Wednesday.

Winning the toss, Mohamedan SC skipper Imrul Kayes opted to bat first.

Mohamedan seemed comfortable on the pitch as their openers Imrul and Mahidul Islam Ankon made 137 runs opening partnership, which gave the side a proper foundation to go big in the later part of their innings.

After Imrul was out on 68 in the 29th over, Mohamedan failed to keep up the momentum their openers had given them as Soumya Sarker, Mahmudullah Riyadh, Shuvagata Hom, all failed to take their innings into the double digits and wickets kept falling in a regular interval.

After playing 50 overs, Mohamedan’s innings ended on 235-8 despite a brilliant start. Ankon scored 70 off 85, was the highest scorer for his team. Ariful Haque and Anustup Mojumdar scored 37 and 30 respectively. For Abahani, Saif Uddin took four wickets in his ten over spell giving away only 45 runs. Tanzim Hasan Sakib and Tanvir Islam took two

wickets each.

Coming to chase Mohamedan’s 235, Naim Sheikh’s ton led Abahani to a comfortable victory over their rivals.

In their innings Abahani lost their opener Anamul Bijoy early, but Naim dug in on the pitch as he kept going while wickets kept on falling on the other end.

When Afif Hossain came on the pitch after the third wicket, Abahani was down to 86-3. Naim then built an 88-runs partnership with Afif which led them closer to their target.

After was out on 49, missing out a half-century for jus one run, skipper Mosaddek Hossain came to bat and Mohamedan was unable to fightback as Naim completed his brilliant century and was not out till the end on 110.

Mosaddek scored 25 off 18 and Mahmudul Hasan Joy scored 24 off 27 for Abahani.

Allrounder Alauddin Babu claimed a hat-trick as Rupganj Tigers Cricket Club edged Gazi Group Cricketers past by 11 runs in the DPL at BKSP-4 ground on Wednesday.

Put in to bat first, Rupganj Tigers put up 251-8 with Captain Naeem Islam hitting 78 and opener Imranuzzman scoring 68.

Alauddin Babu grabbed 5-35 including hat-trick to wrap up Gazi Group innings for 240 in 48.4 overs.

Babu who made 19 ball-26 not out with the willow completed his hat-trick in his first and the second over of the innings. In his second, third and fourth ball, he dismissed Habibur Rahman, Amir Mjoumdar and Indian recruit Ravi Teja to derail Gazi Group's innings. They never recovered from that collapse despite the valiant effort of Captain Akrabr Ali and Anamul Haque.

Akbar Ali hit 85 ball-88 and Anamul Haque made unbeaten 82 but that couldn't prevent them from losing the game.