The championship of the ongoing season of the Dhaka Premier League went down to the wire after table topper Abahani Limited suffered a six-wicket [D/L] defeat against Gazi Group Cricketers in the fourth round of the Super League phase at BKSP-3 on Wednesday.
The loss paved the way for their nearest contender and Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club to level the points with 26 in the table from the same 15 games; however, the latter remained in the second due to poor run-rate.
On the day Abahani lost points, the defending champions Sk. Jamal earned a 59 run [D/L] victory against their Legends of Rupganj counterpart at Khan Shaheb Osman Ali Stadium, Fatullah.
With just one match remaining for all teams in the Super League, the last game between Abahani and Sk. Jamal on May 13 is going to be the title decider, where Abahani need to win with a better run rate as they lost to the same counterpart in their league phase encounter.
Batting first, Abahani made 246 all-out thanks to Mohammad Naim’s 61 off 64 balls and 48 and 43 coming from Mahmudul Hasan Joy and Anamul Haque Bijoy, respectively.
Tipu Sultan was the peak of the Gazi Group bowlers, claiming 4-47.
However, as the rain interrupted during the innings break, the revised target for Gazi Group was 214 in 45 overs, and they reached it at 215-4 in 41.5 overs, courtesy of Asadullah Galib’s unbeaten 85 off 95 balls and SM Mehrob’s 52 off 67 balls.
Tanvir Islam was the most successful bowler for Abahani, scalping 2-50.
At Fatullah, with Shykat Ali hitting a blazing hundred [108 off 81 balls] and Ziaur Rahman, Parvez Rasool remaining unbeaten on a 42-ball 64 and 51 off 25 balls, alongside 62 from Nurul Hasan, powered the titlist to a mammoth 350-5.
Jawad Royen and Chirag Jani took two wickets each.
However, since rain hit the tie in the innings interval, the revised target for Rujganj was 315 in 46.1 overs, which they failed to reach as the Mashrafe Bin Mortaza led side was restricted to 255-7.
Parvez Rasool was the peak among the Sk Jamal bowlers, scalping 3-36.
At the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium, Prime Bank registered a six-wicket win over Mohammedan Sporting Club.
Mohammedan were all-out for a sorry 109 in 27.3 overs thanks to Prime Bank's Pakistani recruit Kashif Bhatti's four and Rejaur Raja's three wicket haul.
In reply, Prime Bank reached the victory line 113-4, courtesy of 30 each from Shahadt Hossain and Prantik Nawrose Nabil.
