United News of Bangladesh

Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) on Tuesday announced a 16-member Bangladesh Under-17 Cricket team to tour Sri Lanka for playing two three-day and three one- day matches against their Lanka counterpart. Bangladesh team expected to leave here for the Island nation Sri Lanka on Thursday (November 21). Former national cricketer Tushar Imran was named as  the coach of Bangladesh U-17 team. Touring Bangladesh team will start their campaign through a one-day series taking on hosts Sri Lanka on November 24, 26 and 28. They will play the first three- day match from December 1-3 and the 2nd and last three dayer on December 6-8. Members of Bangladesh U-17 team: Ferdous Kabir, Abdullah Al Mohi, Hridoy Hossain, Farhan Sadik, Adrit Ghose, Ehsanul Haque Mahim, Rakibul Hasan, Rakib Khan, Mahinuzzaman Mahbir, Atiqur Rahman Akash, Al  Amin Hossain, Abdur Rahim, Mahir Islam Chowdhury, Imran Hossain, Al Rafi and Sourav Karmakar. Four stand by players are: Ehsanul Momin, Mobassir Islam Munim, Faiyas Rehman and Kawser Ahmed.  

Captain of the Swadhin Bangla Football team,  former vice- president of Bangladeshi Football Federation (BFF) and freedom fighter M Zakaria Pintoo passed away on  Monday noon at a local hospital. He was 81. He left behind one son,  three daughters and a large number of admirers to mourn his death. Zakaria Pintoo, also a member of Jatiya Press Club, was admitted to the Ibne Sina Hospital in the capital Sunday afternoon as he was feeling very sick after suddenly fell down at his residence.  Later, he was shifted to the ICU of the hospital Sunday evening as his condition was further critical and deteriorated  and finally he took his last breath there at about 11:45 am on Monday. Pintoo, a renowned defender cum captain of Dhaka Mohammedan SC,  made his first international appearance as the Bangladesh captain in the Merdeka Cup Football Tournament in Malaysia in 1973. During the Bangladesh's Liberation War in 1971, Pintoo led the Swadhin Bangla Football, which played a good number of exhibition matches in India to raise funds for the country' s freedom fighters. Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus, Youth and Sports Adviser Asif Mahmud Sajib Bhuiyan condoled the death of the proud son of the soil. BFF president Tabith Awal, Sr VP, VPs and executive committee members also condole the death of Zakaria Pintoo    

Former Bangladesh opener Imrul Kayes has officially announced his retirement from Test cricket on Monday, with this last First-class match. Alongside his Test career, Imrul also declared the conclusion of his First-class cricket journey, bringing an emotional close to a 17-year professional career. A few days back, Imrul made his announcement via social media. “I am about to make a difficult decision regarding my career. On November 16, I will officially end my Test and First-class cricket career. This is one of the most challenging and emotional moments in my life,” he said.  Looking back to his journey, Imrul, who played 39 Tests and scored three centuries and four fifties, expressed his gratitude and pride. “When I made my First-class debut in 2006, I never imagined I would play 39 Test matches for Bangladesh. Representing my country, whether in one Test or fifty, is an immense honor,” he added. “I’ve tried my best to contribute to the team, either with the bat or as a keeper.” Imrul’s Test career featured several milestones, including a record-breaking 312-run opening partnership with Tamim Iqbal in the Khulna Test against Pakistan in 2015.  “That innings of 150 will always remain a special memory for me,” he said. While he is proud of his contributions, Imrul mentioned some unfulfilled aspirations, especially the absence of a major trophy. “It’s a regret that despite playing with legends like Shakib (Al Hasan), Tamim, Mashrafe (bin Mortaza), Mushfiqur (Rahim), and (Mahmudullah) Riyad bhai for so long, we couldn’t win a significant trophy for Bangladesh. Winning something like the Asia Cup or Nidahas Trophy would have made my career more fulfilling,” he said.  “The celebrations after that win were unforgettable. The love and support we received from the fans that night still gives me goosebumps. It showed how deeply cricket is loved in our country,” Imrul added.

Harry Kane's 69th international goal sparked a second-half scoring spree that fired England back to the top tier of the UEFA Nations League on Sunday. In temporary head coach Lee Carsley's final game in charge, a 5-0 win against Ireland secured promotion and ensured England will be back among Europe's leading nations in the next edition of the competition. “I wanted the England team to be exciting to watch and attacking,” Carsley said. “I see them do it day in, day out on the training ground. And now we’ve seen it (on the field).” England won its group on goal difference ahead of second-placed Greece, which beat Finland 2-0. Kane's 53rd-minute penalty at Wembley was a record-extending goal for his country after Liam Scales brought down Jude Bellingham in the box and was sent off for a second yellow card offense. Within five minutes England was 3-0 up through Anthony Gordon in the 55th and Conor Gallagher in the 58th. Substitute Jarrod Bowen made an immediate impact, scoring with his first touch in the 75th and Taylor Harwood-Bellis, making his debut, headed in another four minutes later. “A really important win for us,” Kane said. “It was a tough first half, but we came out second half with a lot more energy and we finished it off.” England, which is set to welcome new head coach Thomas Tuchel in January, needed to match Greece's result to top Group B2. Anastasios Bakasetas had put Greece ahead in the 52nd in Finland, with Kane's England opener coming a minute later. Christos Tzolis scored the second for Greece, which faces a playoff to try to win promotion. After five wins from six games, Carsley will now return to his permanent role as head coach of England's under 21s. Tuchel begins in January and will lead the campaign to qualify for the 2026 World Cup. He should have plenty of options when he selects his first squad after Carsley handed debuts to eight players during his short reign. In his final game, Gordon, Gallagher, Bowen and Harwood-Bellis all scored their first senior goals for England. “Lee has achieved the main objective from the six fixtures this autumn: securing promotion back to the top tier of the Nations League," English Football Association CEO Mark Bullingham said. “The players have really enjoyed working with Lee and his team – they have made a real impact in their interim roles.” Rabiot double Adrien Rabiot scored two goals as France beat Italy 3-1 to win Group A2. Both teams had already secured their places in the quarterfinals before the match in Milan, but France needed to win by at least two goals to take top spot. “It’s been a while since we’ve played a match like that, fighting all together,” Rabiot told French television channel TF1. “The aggressiveness that we showed, our team spirit, that should all be highlighted. That is the real face of the France team.” Rabiot headed the visitors in front just inside two minutes. France shocked San Siro into silence in the 33rd when Lucas Digne curled in a magnificent free kick from 25 yards that went into the top left corner via the underside of the bar and Guglielmo Vicario. It went down as an own-goal from the Italy goalkeeper, who was a late replacement after Gianluigi Donnarumma fell ill with a stomach bug. Italy pulled a goal back two minutes later when Andrea Cambiaso volleyed past Mike Maignan. But Rabiot grabbed his second in the 65th with another header — the sixth goal in a row Italy has conceded from set plays. While the match had started with the Italy fans booing the French anthem, it finished with France supporters proudly singing the same song in triumph. It was the first time Italy had lost a home game by two or more goals since 1983, according to soccer statistician Opta. Also in the group, No. 6-ranked Belgium fell to a surprise 1-0 loss against Israel - ranked 81st. Yarden Shua's goal settled the game, which was held in Budapest, Hungary, in the 86th. Israel was relegated to League B despite the win. Belgium must now face a playoff to try to avoid relegation. Haaland hat trick Erling Haaland leads the Nations League scoring charts after hitting a hat trick in Norway's 5-0 win against Kazakhastan in Group B3. The Manchester City striker took his total to seven goals and is two clear of Viktor Gyokeres, Cristiano Ronaldo and Benjamin Sesko, who are all tied on five. Norway was promoted to the top tier, ahead of second-place Austria, which drew 1-1 with Slovenia.

England sealed a 3-1 win Sunday in its Twenty20 series against West Indies when the fifth and final match was abandoned after five overs because of rain. West Indies reached 44-0 at the end of the fifth over after losing the toss when torrential rain began to fall. Evin Lewis was 29 not out and Shai Hope on 14. With no hope of the rain abating and the outfield already soaked, the umpires made the decision to call off play about 6:15 p.m. local time with no result. England won the first three matches of the series by eight wickets, seven wickets and three wickets respectively. West Indies won the fourth match on Saturday by five wickets in a record run chase. The home team previously won the one-day international series 2-1. All seven completed matches were won by the team that won the toss and batted second.

Shai Hope and Evin Lewis made half centuries in a rapid 136-run opening stand as the West Indies completed a record run chase to beat England by five wickets Saturday in the fourth Twenty20 international. Hope made 54 from 24 balls and Lewis made 68 from 31 balls, with seven sixes and four fours, in a partnership which lasted only 9.1 overs but enabled the West Indies to reach a winning target of 219. The West Indies' confident start was shaken when Lewis, Hope and Nicholas Pooran fell to consecutive balls in the 10th over. But captain Roston Chase put the innings back on track with 38 from 23 balls and Sherfane Rutherford competed the chase with successive sixes and an over to spare. There were 32 sixes in the match, 16 from each team. “We had to assess the conditions. That's one thing we struggled with in the first three games in the power play," Hope said. “We've been losing some early wickets so the main thing was to try and understand what was the best remedy, to understand the conditions and come out of the power play on top.” England already had won the five-match series after winning the first three matches by eight wickets, seven wickets and three wickets respectively. Every match in the series and in the previous three-match one-day series has been won by the team winning the toss. After being sent in, Phil Salt and Jacob Bethell who both have deep roots in the Caribbean made swift half centuries as England made 218-5 to equal the highest first innings total at the Darren Sammy Stadium. Bethell who was born and raised in Barbados made an unbeaten 62 from 32 balls while Salt who was born in Wales but raised in Barbados made 55 from 35 balls at the top of the order. Will Jacks (25), Jos Buttler (38) and Sam Curran (24) also contributed to England's innings of 218-5. The West Indies made a speedy start in pursuit of that total. Hope reached his half century from 23 balls, the West Indies were 69-0 after the power play and their hundred came up in only 7.3 overs. Lewis was more watchful than Hope at first but when he began to hit out it was with enormous power. He reached his half century from 26 balls and the longest of his sixes traveled 105 meters. The century partnership between Hope and Lewis came from only 45 balls and they had looked impregnable until Lewis played an awkward shot to a ball from Rehan Ahmed which he skewed to Dan Mousley. Hope was run out next ball for the second time in consecutive matches and Pooran was bowled first ball as the West Indies slumped to 136-3. Powell restored some of the early momentum with his 38 before falling lbw to John Turner in his T20 debut. The West Indies needed 21 from the the last three overs with five wickets in hand, then 15 from two. After edging towards the target in singles, Rutherford finally found the middle and blasted consecutive sixes from Mousely to clinch the win.

Viktor Gyokeres led Sweden to a 2-1 win over Slovakia while the Netherlands qualified for the Nations League quarterfinals with a 4-0 win over Hungary on Saturday. Germany also set a single-game scoring record for the relatively new competition — this is its fourth edition — by routing Bosnia and Herzegovina 7-0. Gyokeres took his nation’s opening goal in the third minute. After Slovakia's David Hancko leveled in the 19th, the Sporting Lisbon striker set up Aleksander Isak to put Sweden back in front for good in the 31st. Gyokeres is the joint leading scorer of the Nations League with five along with Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo and Slovenia’s Benjamin Sesko. Gyokeres recently upstaged Erling Haaland by scoring a hat trick as Sporting beat Manchester City 4-1 in the Champions League. Sweden is trying to earn promotion from League C to League B. Estonia finished at Azerbaijan 0-0 in the same group. The Netherlands joined Germany as the two teams from League A, Group 3 to advance to the quarterfinals in March. The Dutch easily won their game in Amsterdam, which was briefly suspended in the first half for the medical evacuation of Hungary assistant coach Adam Szalai. The Hungarian Football Federation said the former player was in “stable” condition after being taken by ambulance to a local hospital. Wout Weghorst converted a penalty in the 21st and Cody Gapko added a second spot kick in first-half injury time. Denzel Dumfries and Teun Koopmeiners added second-half goals. Germany rolls to record win Bayer Leverkusen midfielder Florian Wirtz scored twice, including from a superb free kick, to help fuel the Germans' demolition of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Forward Tim Kleindienst also got his first two international goals, while Jamal Musiala, Kai Havertz and Leroy Sane all added to the lopsided scoreline in Freiburg. League B Wales escaped with a scoreless draw from Turkey after the host's top scorer Kerem Akturkoglu missed an 89th-minute penalty. Akturkoglu, who leads Turkey with four goals in the Nations League, sent his spot kick off the post. Iceland won at Montenegro 2-0 after late goals by Orri Oskarsson and Isak Bergmann. The loss meant Montenegro will be relegated to League C. A goal by Georges Mikautadze got Georgia a 1-1 draw at home with Ukraine after an own goal by Solomon Kverkvelia put the visitors ahead. The Czech Republic missed the chance to earn promotion from League B after drawing at Albania 0-0. League D Virgiliu Postolachi scored in injury time to give Moldova a 1-0 win in Andorra.

Hosts Bangladesh beat the Maldives by 2-1 goals in the second and last match to level the two-match Bashundhara Group FIFA Tier-1 International Friendly series 1-1 at the floodlight Bashundhara Kings Arena in Dhaka on Saturday evening. Bangladesh, which made a frustrating start in the two-match series losing to the Maldives by a 0-1 goal at the same venue last Wednesday, today took the field in a must-win situation to revive their prestige and save the series, and finally they came out successful by an injury-time goal by substitute booter Papon Singh. FIFA Int'l Friendly: Bangladesh make frustrating start losing to Maldives by 0-1 goal The Maldives team, which was deprived of playing any international or major football in the last year, surprisingly forced hosts Bangladesh to concede a 0-1 defeat in the first match last Wednesday to take sweet revenge for their 1-2 goal defeat against Bangladesh at the same venue in October last year. This was the 2nd win for Bangladesh playing eight international matches this year after beating Bhutan and the 3rd win against the Maldives in their 5th meeting since 2023. Bangladesh outplayed the Maldives by 3-1 goals in the SAFF Championship in 2023 and beat the Maldives by 2-1 goals in Dhaka in the World Cup Qualifiers in 2023. Bangladesh played a 1-1 draw with the Maldives in Male in the World Cup Qualifiers in 2023, apart from conceding a 0-1 defeat against them in the last match here on Wednesday. In the day's match, midfielder Ali Fasir, who scored the match-winner for the Maldives against Bangladesh in the first match last Wednesday, again put his team ahead in the 23rd minute by a ground-placed shot, utilising a blunder mistake of hosts captain and defender Topu Barman silencing the local crowd (1-0). Medio Mojibor Rahman Jony levelled the margin for Bangladesh in the 43rd minute with a brilliant shot from the top of the box, dodging past two opponent defenders amid a huge celebration from home fans (1-1). Super sub midfielder Papon Singh scored the much-awaited match-winning goal for Bangladesh in the 4th minute of the added time (90+4 minute) by a straight shot from the danger zone, off a ready-made pass from Shahriar Emon, amid huge satisfaction from the home crowd (2-1). In the day's match, the Maldives team maintained their supremacy till the 42nd minute, featuring a deserving 1-0 lead beating off coloured Bangladesh, but Bangladesh regained their rhythm, scoring an equaliser in the 43rd minute. Earlier in the 40th minute, the Maldives custodian brilliantly saved an attempt by Foysal Ahmed Fahim, while Bangladesh goalkeeper Mitul Marma also saved his castle nicely, foiling a good header by Ali Fasir in a one-to-one situation in the 52nd minute.With the day's feat, the Spanish head coach of Bangladesh team Javier Cabrera completed his initial term/ contract (till December 2024) successfully, and the Bangladesh national team also completed this year's engagement with a win.

Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) team, Rangpur Riders, is all set to participate in the Global Super League, an international T20 league, in Guyana. This is the first time a Bangladeshi franchise is going to participate in such a league. Nurul Hasan Sohan, the wicketkeeper-batter, will lead the Riders in this league. He said it’s a great opportunity for them to represent the country in this T20 event. “This is a big opportunity for our players to gain global exposure and enhance their skills,” Sohan said in a press conference in Dhaka, where the team also unveiled their jersey. Drawing from his experience in Guyana during Bangladesh's 2022 West Indies tour, Sohan believes the conditions are similar to those back home, offering a slight advantage. A total of five teams will play in this event. The other teams are the Guyana Amazon Warriors, Pakistan's Lahore Qalandars, England's Hampshire Hawks, and Australia's Victoria. The Riders' squad includes notable Bangladeshi players such as Soumya Sarkar, Afif Hossain, and Sheikh Mehedi Hasan, alongside international stars like Pakistan's Khushdil Shah and England's Wayne Madsen. Nazmul Abedeen Fahim, a director of the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB), called it a “new milestone” for a Bangladeshi team. “Rangpur is not just representing themselves but also BCB and Bangladesh,” he said on Saturday, expressing hope for the success of the Riders.

Fast bowler Saqib Mahmood again knocked the top off the West Indies innings to set up England's three-wicket win in the third Twenty20 international on Thursday which clinched a series victory with two matches remaining. Set 146, England reached its target with seven wickets down and four balls to spare. The chase was led by Sam Curran who made 41 in partnerships of 38 with Will Jacks (32) and 39 with Liam Livingstone. Livingstone was dropped on 6, 8 and 21 but went on to reach a valuable 39. With each dropped catch, the match slipped from the home team's grasp. Jamie Overton (4) and Rehan Ahmed (5) were at the crease when the winning runs came in the final over. Player of the match Mahmood took 3-17, dismissing Evin Lewis (3) in the first over of the match and returning to dismiss Roston Chase (7) and Shimron Hetmyer (2) as the West Indies slumped to 39-5 at the end of the six-over power play. “I just feel freer (in this series) to be honest,” Mahmood said. “I think when I've played in the past I've always kept someone else's place warm whereas coming into this if feels like my own and I can really express myself and always look to take the brave option.” Captain Rovman Powell made 54 as the West Indies recovered to 145-8 after the failure of the top order. The West Indies lost three wickets in the power play in each of the first two matches of the series which England won by eight wickets and seven wickets respectively. Mahmood took 4-24 including the power play wickets of Lewis, Brandon King and Hetmyer in the first match and 2-20 in the second. England received a major boost before the match when captain Jos Buttler won the toss which was delayed for 45 minutes by a wet outfield. The first two matches of the series and the three matches of the previous one-day international series between the teams all were won by the team that won the toss. The West Indies paid heavily for indiscipline at the start of their innings — in spite of a deteriorating position its top batters continued to play recklessly. Shai hope was run out on the fourth ball of the innings by Jacob Bethell who threw down his stumps as Hope first set off for a hopeless run, then failed to regain his ground. Lewis was out five balls later, slashing at a length ball from Mahmood which flew to Jofra Archer at third man. And Nicholas Pooran fell to the fifth ball of the third over, bowled by Archer as he threw up his head and swung across the line at a straight delivery. The West Indies were 17-3 after three overs. Powell and Romario Shepherd put on 73 for the sixth wicket and Alzarri Joseph, returning after a suspension for his extraordinary protest in the first match of the series, made an unbeaten 21. Joseph walked off the field in the first match after disputing his captain's field settings. The fourth and fifth matches of the series will be played at St. Lucia on Saturday and Sunday.