Two U19 youngsters Tanzid Hasan Tamim and Towhid Hridoy steered Shinepukur Cricket Club pulling of a five-wicket victory against Mohammedan Sporting Club in the first round of the ongoing Bangabandhu Dhaka Premier Division Cricket League at the Khan Shaheb Osman Ali Stadium in Fatullah yesterday.
Both the young sensations struck half-centuries each while valuable support from Robiul Islam and Mahidul Islam Ankon have helped Shinepukur reach their target with three balls to spare.
Chasing a target of 258, Sabbir Hossain and Tanzid Hasan decided not to go after the bowlers to set a good platform from the beginning. The duo added 53-run for the first wicket before Abdur Razzak removed Sabbir for 25. Shinepukur batters played according to their plan, steadily hunting down the target keeping wickets in hand which saw they managed to score 52-run, 55-run and 76-run partnerships for second, third and fourth wickets respectively.
Tanzid Hasan, who had a memorable U19 World Cup, played a sensible knock picking up his half-century before being bowled out on 59 off 77 balls with three fours and two sixes. Robiul Islam joined the party too scoring more than a ball fifty (54 off just 51 balls).
From 160 for 3 after 32 overs, another U19 young talent Towhid Hridoy, skipper of the Shinepukur, holding his nerves, keeping things quite slow, not hankering after boundaries rather running hard between the wicket, reached his fifty conceding 79 balls with just one four.
Mahidul Islam was just his opposite, who hammered the bowlers before leaving the crease on 49 with two fours and two sixes.
The slog progress during the middle phase of the chase didn’t eventually hamper Shinepukur as Sajjadul and Robiul Haque got the job done for their side to chase down the target with three balls to spare.
U19’s Tanzid Hasan awarded Man of the Match for his well-made 59.
Earlier opted to bat, Mohammedan Sporting Club openers also got off to a good start losing no wicket inside the power-play. Although U19 spinner knocked up Avishek Mitra in the 12th over, Addul Mazid and Irfan Shukkur’s solid 63-run second-wicket stand put Mohammedan to a formidable position.
But soon after rebuilding the innings, when the duo looked all set, threw their wickets away with unfortunate run-outs affecting their side badly in latter part of the innings.
From 133 for 3, Mohammedan found it difficult to accelerate the scorecard in the middle when half of the batters sent back in the dug-out after 39 overs.
Mahmudul Hasan Limon and Shuvagat Hom though looked threatening at the back end, Mohor Shiekh removed both of them in two consecutive deliveries as Mohammedan finished at 257 for 8 from their allocated 50 overs.