Table topper Abahani Limited suffered their first ever loss in this season of the Dhaka Premier League as the defending champion Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi club beat them by four wickets in the ninth round of the meet at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium on Monday.
Despite losing the match, the former champions are holding the top spot on the points table, bagging the same 16 points as the defending champion, Sheikh Jamal, from nine matches but having a superior net run rate.
Towhid Hridoy scored 72 runs, while Taibur Rahman and Said Hasan finished with 63 and 39, respectively, to cruise to the target of 251-6, with five balls to spare in reply to 250-9.
Jaker Ali Anik was the top scorer for Abahani with his 79-run knock, and the next highest score of 58 came from Naim Sheikh’s bat.
In the day’s other two games, Mashrafe Bin Mortaza led Legends of Rupganj beat Prime Bank by five wickets at BKSP-4 to confirm the super league of the competition after Abahani and Sheikh Jamal, while Agrani Bank Cricket Club registered a six-wicket win over Rupganj Tigers Cricket Club at BKSP-3, respectively.
Batting first, Abahani's opening stand added 41 runs before Anamul Haque, who hit three hundreds in this edition of the league, fell to Mrittunjoy Chowdhury for 15, who managed his initial call into the national fold for the forthcoming series against Ireland just 24 hours earlier.
In the second wicket stand, Naim Sheikh and Jaker Ali added 53 runs to give impetus to a mammoth total.
However, the pair failed to uphold the rhythm after the latter gave a catch to Shykat Ali that allowed him to become the highest run getter with 640 runs from nine games at an average of 106.66, surpassing his fellow teammate Anamul Haque, who is clasping the second spot with 615 runs at an average of 87.85.
Following the departure of Naim Jaker, Abahani continued to manage a modest total on his own.
Ziaur Rahamna was the most successful bowler for Sheikh Jamal, claiming 3-39, while Ebadot Hossain and Mrittunjoy each took two wickets.
In reply, with the opener Saif Hasan hitting 39 off 42 balls and a 42-ball 38 coming from the top-order batsman Fazle Mahmud, the defending champions reached the hundred-run mark.
Then, Towhid Hridoy and his partner Taibur Rahman shared a crucial 98-run stand to bring the side to the close of the chase, before they left on 242-6.
Nurul Hasan Sohan then struck a 12-ball 20 to wrap up the tie.
In the day’s other tie at BKSP-4, pacer Abdul Halim was instrumental in Legends of Rupganj’s victory against Prime Bank, picking up three wickets for 34 runs.
Halim was complemented by his captain, Mashrafe Bin Mortaza, who scalped 2-25 as Rupganj bundled Prime Bank out for just 128 in 36.2 overs after putting them into bat first.
Nasir Hossain was the top-scorer for the side with 31, while national player Yasir Ali Chowdhury made 28 when he needed a big score to boost his confidence.
Legends for Rupganj couldn’t make it a cakewalk but still raced to the victory in 24.4 overs, making 129-5 for their seventh victory. Fardeen Hasan Oney made team-high 47, while Irfan Shukkur added 31 ball-34 to hasten the victory.
At BKSP-3, Rupganj Tigers amassed 248-7 courtesy of Imran Uzzaman’s 67, Naeem Islam’s 61, and Anik Bawne’s 56 off 47 balls.
Anamul Haque was the peak of the Agrani Bank bowlers, taking 3-48.
Then, with Marshall Ayub and Shadman Islam making 95 off 91 balls and 93 off 108 balls Agrani Bank breezed past the target of 250-4 with 23 balls to spare.
