Abahani Limited defeated archrivals Mohammedan Sporting club by six wickets during their Dhaka Premier League encounter at Miprur’s Sher-e-Bangla national cricket stadium on Monday.
With the win Abahani have now 10 points from six matches and although Legends have Rupganj have the equal number of points from same number of games, the Dhanmondi-based side is on top courtesy of a better net-run rate.
Chasing 249, Abahani reached their target in 47.3 overs with six wickets in hand as the top order batsmen laid the foundation for the Sky Blues.
Openers Jahurul Islam and Soumya Sarker started the chase confidently and posted 105 runs in the scoreboard in 19.4 overs before the latter lost his wicket scoring 43.
The left-hander struck five fours and one six in his 43-run innings off 54 deliveries before being bowled out.
Jahurul then formed a 79-run partnership with experienced Indian batsman Wasim Jaffer.
Jaffer nicked a Shafiul Islam delivery to wicketkeeper Irfan Sukkur in the 34th over to get out after scoring 38 off 42 balls.
The score was 174 for 2 after 34 overs when Jaffer departed and Abahani were well on course to achieve their target.
They lost two more wickets, Nazmul Islam Shanto (in the 40th over) and Jahurul (in the 41st over), before reaching home.
Jahurul, who scored 121 runs in the opening match of Abahani against BKSP, was just four runs short of another well deserved hundred but the wicketkeeper-batsman was bowled by Shahdat Hossain in the fifth ball of 41st over.
Man-of-the-match Jahurul’s 96 runs came from 131 delivers with 12 boundaries.
Shahadat took two wickets for Mohammedan.
Abahani Limited won by 6 wickets against Mohammedan Sporting Club
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Earlier, Abahani won the toss and elected to field first.
Mohammedan openers Liton Kumar Das and Abdul Mazid started cautiously and made a relatively slow start as 36 runs came from first ten overs.
Liton got out for 27 and Abdul Mazid, who played an extremely slow innings, made 26 off 67 balls with a strike-rate of 38.80.
The next two batsmen Irfan and captain Raqibul Hasan made a decent 68-run stand before the wicket-keeper got out for 57. The skipper tried to accelerate the scoring rate but he got out while attempting that making 51 off 54 balls and left the side on 195/5 in the 43rd over.
Chaturanga de Silva (32 off 24 balls) and Sohag Gazi (27 off 20 balls) scored some quick runs in the end but they could not finish the innings.
Experienced Mohammad Ashraful came to bat in at number eight and scored just four from seven deliveries in the slog overs. Mohammedan in the end fell short of the 250-run mark and well short of a defendable score.
Abahani spinner Nazmul Islam Opu and medium pacer Mohammad Saifuddin picked up three wickets apiece conceding 29 and 31 runs respectively.
From this win Abahani remain top of the points table with 10 points from six matches.
SCORECARD
Mohammedan INNINGS R B
Liton c Mosaddek b Nazmul 27 38
Mazid lbw b Mosaddek 26 67
Irfan Sukkur b Saifuddin 57 78
Raqibul c Jahurul b Nazmul 51 54
Nadif c Soumya b Nazmul 7 11
Silva c Soumya b Saifuddin 32 24
Sohag c Mashrafe b Saifuddin 27 20
Ashraful not out 4 7
Alauddin not out 2 3
Extras (b 4, lb 2, nb 2, w 7) 15
TOTAL (7 Wickets, 50 Overs) 248
Fall of wickets: 1-40 (Liton, 12.2 ov), 2-87 (Mazid, 23.1 ov), 3-155 (Irfan, 37.2 ov), 4-172 (Nadif, 39.5 ov), 5-195 (Raqibul, 42.4 ov), 6-232 (de Silva, 47.1 ov), 7-242 (Sohag, 49.1 ov)
BOWLING
Mashrafe Mortaza 9-0-51-0, Mohammad Saifuddin 9-2-31-3, Rubel Hossain 10-1-71-0, Nazmul Islam 9-0-29-3, Soumya Sarkar 2-0-10,0 Mosaddek Hossain 6-0-27-1, Sunzamul Islam 5-0-23-0
Abahani INNINGS R B
Jahurul b Shahadat 96 131
Soumya b Shahadat 43 54
Jaffer c Irfan b Shafiul 38 42
Shanto lbw b de Silva 16 16
Mosaddek not out 18 23
Sabbir not out 21 19
Extras (lb 8, w 14) 22
TOTAL (4 Wikets, 47.3 Overs) 254
Fall of wickets: 1-105 (Soumya, 19.5 ov), 2-174 (Jaffer, 33.5 ov), 3-210 (Shanto, 39.5 ov), 4-214 (Jahurul, 40.6 ov)
BOWLING
Shafiul Islam 9-1-54-1, Mohammad Ashraful 5- 0-21-0, Sohag Gazi 8-0-51-0, Shahadat Hossain 10-0-59-2 Silva 10-0-27-1, Alauddin Babu 5-0-27-0, Abdul Mazid 0.3-0-7-0
Abahani Ltd won by 6 wickets (with 15 balls remaining)
MoM: Jahurul Islam (Abahani)
DPL POINTS TABLE
TEAM M W L T PT NRR
Abahani 5 4 1 0 8 1.03
Prime Bank 5 4 1 0 8 0.672
Doleshwar 5 4 1 0 8 0.325
Rupganj 5 4 1 0 8 -0.192
Mohammedan 5 3 2 0 6 0.108
Brothers 5 2 3 0 4 0.245
Gazi Group 5 2 3 0 4 -0.038
BKSP 5 2 3 0 4 -0.284
Sheikh Jamal 5 2 3 0 4 -0.373
Shinepukur 5 1 4 0 2 0.161
Khelaghar 5 1 4 0 2 -0.226
Uttara Sporting 5 1 4 0 2 -1.37
